Love's Trials
by NotThatWord
Summary: Used to be A New Beginning, but storyline changed. After the war with Aizen, a raven-haired shinigami is finally back in Ichigo's life. When something unknown infects Ichigo can their bond save him?
1. Chapter 1

**Notes:**Ok, first things first. I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. And second, since I know nothing about any kind fighting, sword or hand-to-hand, I used Google to look up some terms, so if they're not right or they sound just plain weird, my bad.

6/9/10- Yo! I've started going over the chapters I already have posted and adding/removing some things where needed. I think I kinda rushed a little bit, so I'm going to add more detail and explanations. It shouldn't really effect the way things are going, but if it does I'll put in the A/N in the new chapter, which won't be posted until after I clean up what I already have.

Chapter One

He was surrounded by darkness. Not the kind that trapped you and pushed you deeper into its clutches, the kind you tried hard as you could to get out of. No, this darkness was comforting, soothing, as he laid there in peace. Vaguely he wondered if he was dying, or hell, if he was already dead, but then he discarded that idea. The pain was too much for him to be dead. So he just lay there, waiting for whatever came his way next. Not that he could have moved anyway, he was exhausted. He'd used everything he had in that last fight. He'd given everything he had and in the end it had proved to be enough.

Aizen was dead. And Kurosaki Ichigo had been to the one put an end to the chaos. Ichigo had watched the life leave Aizen's eyes, had allowed himself that one pleasure, before slipping into the darkness.

In him semi-lucid state, he replayed the last of the battle. Every lunge, every block, every swing, chop, and slice of their zanpaktous was seen through by the other; the fighting skills, the instinct, on par with the others. In the end, it had been a battle of reiatsu.

_Ichigo pushed away from the contact he had with Aizen's sword and jumped back and Aizen did the same. Breathing heavily, he watched Aizen through his mask. Once he had figured out the way to escape Aizen's shikai he'd been waiting and waiting for the ex-captain's bankai. He expected it. He was ready for it. He'd trained with Zangetsu and his Hollow to work around the hypnosis Aizen could create with Kyōka Suigetsu. _

"_Why do you still resist the inevitable, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Aizen asked the tired shinigami in his usual holier-than-thou voice. _

_Ichigo snorted. "Why are you not sick of hearing yourself talk? All you do is talk. Maybe you should fight as much as you run your mouth, than we'd accomplish something."_

_His face unchanged from his usual creepy smirk Aizen said, "You do amuse me so, ryoka boy." _

"_Kurosaki Ichigo."_

"_What?" Aizen said lifting an eyebrow._

"_That's the name of the man who's going to kill you. Remember it." Ichigo said, tightening his grip on Zangetsu. "Not ryoka boy." _

_He moved, disappeared, only to reappear behind Aizen. He swung his zanpaktou. Aizen turned to block, but Ichigo had already disappeared again .Coming up from below Ichigo attacked, with both hands gripping the hilt of his sword he swung again. _

_CLANK!_

_The blades pressed against each other, each one pushing the other forcefully, refusing to back down. Aizen tried to go low, but Ichigo was there to block. Aizen flash stepped behind his opponent ,but the young shinigami whirled._

_CLASH!_

_Zangetsu met Kyōka Suigetsu in a conversation of anger. Aizen came from the right, Ichigo tried a counter-parry._

"_Getsuga Tensho!"_

_A blast of red and black crescent shaped energy came surging towards Aizen; Aizen flash-stepped out of the way._

"_I grow tired of you."_

_Ichigo removed his mask. "It's not like you have anywhere to go. You're the only one of your numbers left. Everyone else is dead."_

"_Do you not believe that I cannot simply get more from where those came from." Aizen said with that infuriating smile._

"_You won't get the chance!" Ichigo barked out._

_Red and black reiatsu began to swirl around Ichigo._

_**Is it time King? **__That familiar voice inside Ichigo asked._

_Yeah, Ichigo told it, it's time._

_**All right! Let's do this! **__His Hollow let out a manic laugh._

_Ichigo stared straight into Aizen's eyes and said, "Resurrection." _

_The powerful, untamed reiatsu went crazy, exploding around him in a dome shaped haven. And when it dropped away from Ichigo's form, he was a completely different person. From the waist length orange hair, the tough armor like skin, the Vasto Lorde mask with its twin horns, and the black markings that wrapped around his shoulders like a lover's arms, Kurosaki Ichigo was a sight to behold._

_Ichigo could feel the power, how intoxicating it was. But, after all the training with the Viazard, he had more control over his Hollow side than ever. It would never control him. _

_The clawed hand which gripped Zangetsu hung by his side, its sleek black blade gleaming, its chain swinging back and forth like a pendulum. _

_**No worries King. With my power, a simple shinigami don't stand a chance. **_

_Don't underestimate this _simple_ shinigami. He always has something up his sleeve, Ichigo told his Horse. _

_Laughing manically Hichigo replied, __**We can't lose if we work together. I don't' think some little battery can stand up to your power, my power, and Zangetsu's power together. **_

_Ichigo didn't even bother to answer. Nor did he correct his Hollow on calling the Hōgyoku a _little battery. _Aizen sure as hell wasn't a pink bunny. _

_Aizen watched from afar as his Viazard opponent changed forms, hiding his surprise of the reiatsu coming from the young man._

"_So you've reached this level already. I must admit that I'm surprised. But the fact that you still believe this gives you a chance of walking away from here the winner is a grave mistake._

_Aizen raised Kyōka Suigetsu. "Since you have been a great source of entertainment I'll make this quick. Though I did enjoy playing with you, you and Soul Society have gotten in my way too many times I need to rid myself of the annoyance. Bankai."_

_Ichigo tensed. This was it, the moment he'd trained for, what everything came down to. In the back of his mind he wondered who all from his side was alive and who was dead, but cast that aside. He had to focus on Aizen, had to differentiate between what was real and what was illusion. _

_Aizen had disappeared. No, that was an illusion. Ichigo knew it. Drawing on his Hollow powers and feeling the waves in the reiatsu Ichigo could make out the genuine from the fake. The double horned head turned, the trademark black and yellow eyes of the Hollow transformation taking in the surroundings._

_Ichigo twirled Zangetsu on its chain, switching the spinning blade from hand to hand, as he searched for Aizen. He found him. Ichigo stopped spinning Zangetsu and gripped the zanpaktou tightly in his right hand. The red and black spirit particles that make up Getsuga Tensho appeared, wrapping around the black blade and dancing like flames._

_Ichigo moved, flash stepped to the spot Aizen had been originally. Then, he disappeared again and reappeared ten feet away, swooping downwards, his arm already in motion. "Getsuga Tensho!" _

_The blast of energy came out of nowhere. Aizen whirled, then using shunpo he came up behind the Vasto Lorde Ichigo and swung his blade. _

_SLASH!_

_Kyoka Suigetsu's blade cutting Ichigo's shoulders. Ichigo turned, bringing Zangetsu down at the same time, his aim: Aizen's arm. But Aizen jumped back. The ryoka boy was faster and stronger than he had been before. _

_I'll trap him in an illusion, Aizen thought. That way the speed and strength will not matter. _

_**We ruffled his feathers, King!**_

_Yeah well don't get too excited. He's just getting started. He'll try another illusion, Ichigo said._

_As soon as the words were out, Ichigo suddenly found himself staring at the prone, unmoving bodies of Rukia and an Espada. The air was icy from Rukia's shikai's attack. Even though he knew it was fake, that it was just the hypnosis, that the dying body of Rukia was not really in front of him, it still made his body freeze and the shock run through his blood. He shivered._

_Aizen took advantage of that and lunged. Surprise on his side, he sliced off Ichigo's arm. _

_Ichigo screamed. More out of anger than pain._

_**Your fault, King. You let the body of that shinigami get to you even though you knew it wasn't real.**_

_I know, Ichigo snarled. He was angry at himself. And that anger made him more eager to slice off the head of the one who even _thought about _Rukia dead. From the shoulder of the cut off arm another one, the same white with black markings, grew in its place. _

_**Pull yourself together. **__Hichigo said. But Ichigo was already a step ahead. He'd found the real Aizen again and was moving in. Ichigo was moving around the man in question in circles so fast he appeared to be in several places at once. _

_SLICE!_

_Ichigo had brought Zangetsu down and across Aizen's back. Aizen cried out and flash stepped out of harm's way, but Ichigo was having none of it. He followed Aizen's every move, his Vasto Lorde eyes taking in every little detail. _

_CLANK!_

_SHREE!_

_CLANK!_

_Aizen countered every attack._

_SLICE!_

_Ichigo had found an opening. When Aizen had moved to block Ichigo's next swing, Ichigo had then faked and moved behind Aizen to place a deep cut in nearly the same place the evil man had put on him. But then Aizen gave a burst of reiatsu and disappeared. The next thing Ichigo knew he felt the sting of twenty cuts across his body. Aizen had put enough reiatsu into the blade so that his sword would cut the skin of Ichigo's Vasto Lorde transformation. Enough that Ichigo felt pain, but not for long, because just as Ichigo threw back his head and screamed, a white liquid bone-like substance oozed from every single cut. _

_Aizen watched what was happening right in front of him. High speed regeneration. Not waiting until it was complete, Aizen lauched another attack. But every time, no matter how fast or hard he swung, a pure black, unmoving blade was there to stop his own silver one. Aizen cursed in his head. _

_Ichigo retaliated. "Getsuga Tensho! Getsuga Tensho! Getsuga Tensh!" Ichigo let out three consecutive attacks from three different directions. Each time Aizen flash stepped to avoid a crescent moon shaped blast another came hurtling toward him. _

_Ichigo swooped down from above Aizen, "Gran Ray Cero!" he shouted._

_A bright red ball of cero formed in between his horns and he released it in Aizen's face. _

"_Way of Destruction No. 81: Severing Void!" Aizen threw up the shield as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough. He still took a bit of the blast since it was so close when released. _

_**Nice.**_

_It's not over yet, Ichigo said._

_Aizen threw several illusions at him so fast Ichigo's head was spinning. His friends dead, his sisters being attacked by Hollows, his mom alive and well in the kitchen making food; every single one disappearing as fast as it came. The flurry of visions kept Ichigo busy. He didn't notice Aizen flash step up behind him and raise his sword. Quick as lightening Aizen flicked his wrist and sent a dozen slashes of his blade over Ichigo's chest before Ichigo got his bearings and blocked._

_The high speed regeneration worked fast, but Ichigo knew he'd be sore and exhausted for days afterward. _

_CLANK!_

_CLASH!_

_SCREE!_

_ERRRR!_

_Ichigo was breathing hard. The Hollow transformation distorting his voice like always, was a kind of comfort to Ichigo. _

_Aizen was also breathing hard. And that made him mad. Who was this kid? To push him this far, what was he? Aizen thought he had Kurosaki Ichigo figured out, but he was wrong. He needed to end this fast._

_Aizen flash stepped behind Ichigo and ran Kyōka Suigetsu threw Ichigo's chest._

_Behind his mask, Ichigo smirked._

_His Hollow laughed inside him.__** This is what we've been waiting on.**_

_Ichigo's clawed left hand wrapped around Kyōka Suigetsu's hilt and around Aizens hand while his right, the hand that wielded Zangetsu plunged straight for Aizen's heart. _

_SPLISH!_

_"Getsuga."_

_Aizen's eyes widened._

_"Tensho."_

_The blast of energy ripped through the man impaled on Zangetsu and sent him flying._

_Ichigo watched the man slam against a wall and crumple before falling to the ground. He was barely in one piece. But it wasn't over yet.  
_

_Coughing up blood, Aizen rolled over and grabbed his left shoulder and cursed. That damn kid had blown his arm off. By the time he had managed to stop the bleeding, he was already on his feet, looking up at the hybrid.  
_

_His face fell from its composed state that had been smeared on it from the start. His eyes were wild. _

"_You'll die for that, ryoka boy."_

_Aizen's reiatsu flared around. All of it. The blue light surrounding him was great. Aizen's hands gripped his zanpaktou tightly. It would end now, this boy was going to die for pushing him this far. And Aizen was going to make sure he suffered. In one jump he was back in the air facing the boy.  
_

_**This is it, King. **_

_Yeah, I know. _

_**This is going to be fun.**_

_Yeah, it is. It really was, Ichigo realized. _

_Ichigo brought forth all his reiatsu. It flamed around him like a protective mother's embrace, pulsing and twisting around him. _

_Ichigo stared at Aizen through his mask, not a single shred of fear in his eyes. _

"_AAAAAARRRHHHH!" Ichgio yelled, the massive force of his reiatsu becoming more heavy. He placed his left hand on Zangetsu's hilt with his right._

_Aizen and Ichigo stood facing each other, their reiatsus raring and roaring to tear into the other, the pressure so great the structures around them started to shake. _

_Ichigo disappeared. Aizen disappeared. They charged, their targets each other, their blades packed full and sharpened with reiatsu.  
_

_It was over as quick as it had started._

_SPLISH! SPLISH!_

_Ichigo started to fall forward, his chest sliced diagonally across it. He managed to catch and prop himself up with Zangetsu. Piece by piece, the white and black Hollow armor broke apart and fell away, disintegrating in the wind until Ichigo stood there in his usual bankai clothes, his orange hair back to its short style. His breathing was ragged, and his body was shaking with exhaustion.  
_

_The hypnosis that Kyōka Suigetsu created fell away. Aizen's chest was split across from the stump of his left shoulder to his right hip. He fell._

_Ichigo got a grip on himself and flash stepped to where Aizen fell. His body aching, every joint shaking, exhausted. He raised Zangetsu as he came closer to Aizen to be prepared. He stood over Aizen's body and kicked the broken Kyoka Suigetsu away._

_Aizen was laughing. "Hahahahaha…" he coughed, "you're a monster."_

_Ichigo just stared._

"_One of these days that power will consume you." Aizen continued. "And when it does, your _friends _will turn away from you and you'll meet the same end as me. Kurosaki Ichigo."_

_His eyes closed and his breathing stopped. Aizen was dead. After everything that had happened from the time Ichigo had watched Aizen pluge his hand into Rukia to retreive what he wanted to now, it was finally over.  
_

_Ichigo looked down at the body. "I'll never be like you."_

_He turned and walked away._

_**Hey, hey! What'd I tell ya? **_

_Ichigo was too tired to do answer. In fact, he got ten feet away from Aizen's body and let the darkness consume him._

Ichigo.

Ichigo.

Someone was calling him in a familiar voice. A voice he wanted so bad to answer but the darkness that seem protective at first now seemed smothering. Rukia. He started to fight his way out, barely noticing that the pain was almost gone. Finally, he reached the surface.

He opened his eyes slowly, his eyelids feeling like they weighed twenty pounds each. The first thing he saw was orange. Which kind of freaked him out, until he realized it was Inoue's Sōten Kisshun healing shield.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue beamed.

"Yo." Ichigo said. Or he tried to, it came out a little raspy. He needed some water. Talking didn't work so he tried a smile and tried wetting his throat by swallowing.

"Ichigo!"

He turned his head to his left, to where the voice came from and saw Renji and Rukia coming this way.

Rukia kneeled on his other side, the side opposite Inoue. "You're awake."

Inoue removed the half- oval shield and Ichigo sat up. It always amazed him what she could do with that thing. He felt brand new. Well physically anyway, he knew that his reiatsu was still replenishing.

He tried to talk now. "Hey, guys. Are you all okay? How bad is it?"

Rukia and Renji exchanged tired looks.

"Bad." Rukia started. "We lost two captains, Komamura and Kurotshuchi, the others severly injured and Inoue here and the fourth division can only work so fast. We also have some missing people. Ishida and Chad are hurt but they're okay, they're helping the fourth division out. And the damage is…well, bad."

Renji jumped in. "The good news is the war is over. The Royal Family is safe as is the King's Key, Aizen and Gin are dead and the Hogyoku is destroyed- which, by the way, made pretty much half the damage."

Rukia spoke again. "There's a meeting about in an hour. The Captain-Commander wants anyone who's available to come."

"What about–"

Rukia cut him off, knowing what he was asking. "They're safe. They're unhurt, for the most part." When Ichigo whipped his head around Rukia expanded her explanation. "Karin and Yuzu are completely fine. When they were captured no harm was done to them. But your dad got a little banged up against the Espadas he was fighting."

Ichigo sighed. Thank God. But his relief didn't last long when he remembered the other not-so-lucky people. Ichgio scratched the back of his head and furrowed his brow.

For the first time he noticed that he hadn't been moved. He was lying exactly where he'd fallen. Looking over to where Aizen had fallen he noticed his body was gone. He tensed.

Noticing Ichigo's suddenly stiff body, Rukia followed his eyes and saw where he'd been looking.

"Two of the captains took it." She said referring to the body. " They're going to send him to Hell so his spirit can never be born again."

Ichigo nodded, still not relaxing completely. He stood and looked down at his friends, "Let's go see what old man Yamamoto needs to say."

Renji, Rukia, and Inoue stood and fell into step with Ichigo: Ichigo and Rukia in the middle flanked by Renji and Inoue. Side by side, the young hero and his friends made their way to the quarters of First Division to add their strength to the relief efforts.

oO0Oo

Ok, apparently the final battle took place in Soul Society. I had no clue where I was going to put it while writing this first chapter, but it sort of jumped where it wanted to go. The battle, that is. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and review it to tell me what you liked about it. I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter up as it's not even written yet but…it'll get done. This _is _going to be an IchiRuki story. Oh, and sorry about the fight scene, they're not my thing but I tried my best.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_8 months later_

Stifling a big sigh, Ichigo opened the door to his family's clinic. It'd been a long day.

"WHHEEEEE! IIICHIIIGOOOOO! WELCOME HOME!"

Kurosaki Isshin came barreling towards his son, jumped, and in a high-flying kick sent his both his feet directly towards Ichigo's head.

Ichigo did sigh now, as he simply moved a step to the left and watched his father go out the door, roll down the steps and on down the driveway.

Slamming the door, Ichgio tossed his school bag on a dining room chair and sauntered into the living room to sit next to Karin on the couch.

Karin turned her attention to her brother, "I don't believe that _that_ man defeated three of those enchiladas by himself."

"Espada," Ichigo corrected. "They were Espada."

"Whatever. How's Soul Society doing anyway? Heard from them lately? Rukia's been gone a while hasn't she. I bet they're glad everything's back to normal over there." Karin watched her brother from the corner of her eye. His reaction when Rukia was brought up was always the same: He got a lonely look in his eyes, like he'd lost part of his soul. Not that'd he show it, the idiot. He scowled more too.

The scowl Ichigo had on his face already deepened at the change of topic. "Last I heard they were working things out with the new captains. There's gonna be some changes." Ichigo said ignoring the bit about Rukia. But it made him think about her. About how, when he'd be unconscious after his fight with Aizen, he'd heard her calling him, but when he opened his eyes she had been nowhere near him. And about how half the time he opened his closet he expected her to jump out and throw one of those creepy Chappy rabbits at him. Damn, he missed her. _But, hell if I'll admit it_, he thought. Not to anyone but the midget herself.

During the first couple of months of the reconstruction of Soul Society and the cleaning up of any left over Arrancar of Espada-not including Nel and her, um, brothers or Grimmjaw seeing as he had disappeared- something about his and Rukia's relationship had changed. Feelings other that friendship and partnership had bubbled to the surface. He knew she had felt it too, but they had both ignored it and focused on their jobs. And even after that, before they could explore those feelings further she had been ordered to stay in Soul Society. Freakin' Byayuka.

_It was all his doing, I know it_, Ichigo thought. Byakuya knew how Ichigo felt about Rukia, he probably noticed the change in our relationship before we did. Observant bastard.

"Didn't they offer you a captain spot?" Karin asked snapping him back to the present. "Bet that'd make 'em look good to those Central 46 jerks, ya know, having the hero of their war as a new captain and all that."

"They offered, but I wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility." Ichigo didn't think he needed to mention the fact that they told him Fifth Division would be ready for him when he decided to come. Of course that would mean having a permanent residence over there and he didn't want to think about how they would deal with the little fluke in that plan: he was still alive, technically. "How much do you know about Central 46 anyway?"

"Just what Toshiro told me back when all the fighting was happening."

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow. "He lets you call him Toshiro? He's never tried to freeze you for saying that?"

Karin shrugged. "No."

"Whatever."

Just then the door banged open.

"Oh, Ichigo! How could you do that to Daddy?" Isshin's puppy dog eyes had no affect on Ichigo or Karin. He ran over to Misaki's picture on the wall. "Oh Misaki! Our delinquent son is having a hard time! Ever since our third daughter left he's been in an awful mood! He needs a hug! Come here Ichigo! Daddy's got a great big hu–"

As he walked by, Ichigo slammed his elbow into his dad's face. "I'll be in my room," he told Karin and continued on with just an eye roll for his dad, who was hugging his mom's picture going on about their "delinquent son".

Ichigo shook his head and climbed the stairs, watching his feet the whole way up. Ichigo got half way to his room when he felt a familiar pull, a pull that only came from _one _reiatsu he knew, one that had almost disappeared from him completely only months ago.

His head snapped up. _No way. _

He ran the rest of the way, jerked open his bedroom door and froze.

Downstairs Isshin and Karin exchanged grins, and then she had to kick him to stop his rant about grandkids.

Ichigo stood in his doorway.

"Rukia." He breathed her name.

Sitting on the window sill in a yellow sundress, her feet swinging, and a dopey grin on her face was Rukia.

"Hey Ichigo," she said in her husky voice.

The look on his face was priceless. Rukia had a hard time restraining herself because what she wanted to the minute she saw that face was jump into his arms.

I bet that would've surprised the hell out of him, she thought.

She took in his navy blue jacket, jeans, striped button-up shirt over his _Nice Vibe _shirt and sneakers. She could smell the faint trace of Axe drifting towards her. God, she'd missed him. Things in Soul Society had been close to boring her out of her mind without him to…entertain her. He got flustered over the easiest things sometimes.

"Rukia!"

Ichigo's face lit up. He walked into the room, closing the door behind him. "Rukia! What are you doing here? How long are you staying? Did Renji come?" He threw the questions at her rapidly.

She kept her smile, but her voice got serious. Holding up a hand to prevent more questions she said, "Soul Society needed someone to update the Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo on something he may encounter here in the real world and to stick around to help said shinigami should he need it with the Hollow in the real world and since I know this place and you real well, they chose me. To stay, for as long you need me."

He was standing next to her now, looking at her face. His hand was itching to reach out and stroke her cheek.

_Stop it_, his brain told him. _Ask_ _about the new problem. You need to be prepared Ichigo. Work first, play later._

Right. The new problem, got it. Gosh, she's pretty.

_Ichigo!_ He warned himself.

Leaning against the wall and putting his hands behind him he asked, "What kinda problem we got now."

"We have no clue. There are some kinds of Hollow running around that are poisoning people. We've only had two cases where she shinigami got cut before they killed the Hollow." Rukia jumped off the sill and sat down facing Ichigo on the bed. "From what we can tell they are regular Hollow, maybe a little stronger, but if you get cut by one you get infected with a type of poison that we've never seen before. Urahura is on it, but so far he's got nothing."

"It's Urahura, he'll find out what it is. Is it fatal?"

"Only one death so far, but I'm afraid unless we get a cure quick or get rid of the Hollows who carry the poison there will be more."

"Wait, you said you're here to help me? That means that these poisonous Hollow are here in the real world! Can humans be killed by 'em to?"

She looked him in the eyes, "We don't know. I've got a tracker Urahura gave me before I left. It picks up the reiatsu of these new Hollow and allows us to get to them before they attack."

The happiness he'd felt minutes before at seeing Rukia again faded into worry.

Sensing his sudden mood change, Rukia changed the subject. They could talk more about these Hollow tomorrow. She felt bad bring this to him. It looked like this news had put the weight of the world on his shoulders again. His heart was so big and caring he would feel guilty if he didn't get to a Hollow on time and got a human.

Slipping her feet under her and leaning her torso to the left, resting her wait on her left hand, Rukia looked up at Ichigo, who was still leaning against the wall. With his hands behind him like that he almost looks innocent, she thought. Almost.

"Tell me what kind of trouble you've gotten into without me here."

A corner of his mouth turned up. A subject change, huh, nothing gets by her. "Well you may find it hard to believe but I haven't caused any trouble. I mean, sure I had plenty of opportunities, but after the first few fights I figured it wasn't the same without my midget. Oh I'm sorry, I mean my sidekick."

Ignoring the not-so-little thud her heart gave at hearing the "my", her fist snaked out and landed in his gut. Damned if she hadn't missed that.

"Oof." Ichigo rubbed his stomach, grinning. He sat down on his bed and leaned against the headboard, leaving the foot of his bed for Rukia to stretch out on. "What about you? I'm surprised you weren't promoted to vice-captain. You're more than talented for the position."

Rukia had moved. Now , she lay, facing Ichigo, on her left side, her head propped up by her hand and her legs bent at the knees to keep them from dangling off the bed.

"Captain Utikate wanted to put me up for promotion, but Nii-sama hasn't changed his position on me having a dangerous seat in my divison." She traced Chappy outlines on the blue comforter. "Besides the training Hinamori and I helped with for the recruits, I've pretty much went back to what I was doing before I was sent here the first time. And now I got shipped back to the strawberry patch again, but other than that nothing. But Renji on the other hand…" she trailed off.

"What? Did Yachiru finally figure out that pineapples taste better than cue balls?" Ichigo asked, eyebrows raised. He could tell she was excited because she had sat up and was next to him now and had both legs under her, leaning toward him smiling.

He gave her what she wanted. "Ok, tell me."

"He got promoted."

Insert cricket sounds here.

Ichigo waited for the rest. It didn't come. "Is that it?"

She whacked him in the arm. "What do you mean is that it? This is big! He's a captain!"

"Well yeah, but I mean, I figured he would. I mean, they needed captains and Renji was more that qualified. He knows bankai and everything." Ichigo looked sheepish. "Would've been more surprised if you told me he and Matsomatou had something going. He was more likely to become captain than that happening."

Rukia crossed her arms. Inside she was giddy with joy that she was back with Ichigo and things were back to normal. But, for Renji's sake she had to look annoyed.

Ichgio made peace. "Ok, so what division?"

"Seventh Division and Hinamori is his vice-captain."

"Really? What about the other spots? Who filled them?"

"Well you already know that Urahura is temporary Twelfth Division captain, so that leaves Kira and Hisagi-san who took over their division's captain spots, and a man called Nakamura Daiki took over Fifth Divison. Each of them promoted their own vice-captains."

Ichigo nodded and vaguely wondered if he'd have to fight that Nakamura guy if he went to Soul Society to take Yamamoto up on his offer.

Ichigo looked over at Rukia, studying her face. She looked tired. He didn't like seeing her tired.

Ichigo glanced at the clock. It was eleven-thirty. He turned to Rukia. "Come on, let's go tell dad you're here and get you some stuff. You can finish telling me what's new in Soul Society tomorrow and more about these new Hollow too."

Rukia nodded as she hid a yawn behind her hand. "He probably already knows though."

Just then a blast of cool air came through the window. She pulled the light sweater she had over her dress tighter around her. Ichigo got up to close the window, partly because the October air was chilly at night and partly because when she'd pulled the sweater tighter it had outlined her slim curves. Oh boy. Fresh air: good. Jumping an unsuspecting Rukia: bad.

When he turned she was still sitting on his bed (oh boy), but now she was staring at him with a considering look on her face. Then, she smiled sweetly and got up and walked to the door.

She had just turned the door knob and pulled when he walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm glad your back." He said softly, simply.

She smiled. "Me too."

"I missed…" he trailed off and her breathed caught. "…having someone to pick on."

She jabbed her elbow back into his stomach.

"Ooof!" Rubbing his sore stomach, somehow she _always _manages to catch him in the same place, he smirked. "And an armrest."

Ichigo's yelp could have been heard for miles.

After the weekend finished without a single sighting of the poisonous Hollow- Ichigo didn't know whether to be relieved or worried- and full of time with Rukia, Monday morning came way to fast.

Everyone had been happy to see Rukia again. When asked where she had been Ichigo had rolled his eyes and went to his desk, not wanting to hear what story she concocted. Ichigo was just glad that she was back in her seat. The entire time she was gone that empty seat had just sat there empty…like it was mocking him. And that had made him scowl so Inoue had informed him about wrinkles and frowning and how they were connected. Like he cared.

On the way home, Rukia was busy trying to insert the straw into the juice box Ichigo had swiped for her and had just succeed and taken a few sips when the tracker Urahura had given her went off.

She checked the pager-like device, looked up at Ichigo and said, "Let's go."

Rukia got her mod soul pill out, swallowed it and a second later stood there in her shinigami robes. Out of habit Ichigo grabbed his badge out of his pocket when Rukia stopped him.

"Use Kon," she said. "Remember what happened last time you left your body lying around?"

Images of finding his body surrounded by paramedics and a hysterical Keigo made Ichigo wince.

"Right." Ichigo dug the green pill out and popped it in his mouth. He stood looking at Kon. "Take Chappy and go home," he said, stepping in the way when Kon tried to latch on to Rukia.

Ichigo and Rukia flash stepped in the direction of the Hollow's weird reiatsu. They found it in the park. It looked like any other Hollow, but it didn't _feel _like one. There was something off with it. Ichigo figured whatever happened to make it poisonous made it like that. The Hollow turned and lunged toward a small boy, a spirit.

Ichigo reached behind him and grabbed Zangetsu's hilt, the wrappings falling away as he brought his zanpaktou in front of him. Rukia was one step ahead.

"_Mae, Sode no Shirayuki," _she said.

Ichigo watched, captivated, as she released her zanpaktou-the most beautiful in all of Soul Society. The regular blade transformed to sleek and white and a white ribbon unraveled from the pommel. He was always fascinated by her graceful movements as she released the dances of her sword.

"_Tsugi no mai, hakuren." _

A massive wave of ice shot from the tip of Sode no Shirayuki's blade. Right before it hit the Hollow, the creature moved quickly back. Rukia sheathed her zanpaktou and rushed to the child.

When the Hollow moved toward the two of them, Ichigo moved to stop it.

Ichigo jumped, raising Zangetsu above his head, and as he came over the Hollow he swung down hard. The blade sliced clean through the Hollow, but as he finished bringing his sword down the middle, he felt something sting his arm. As the creature disintegrated, Ichigo pulled his sleeve back to check his right forearm, where he had felt the sting. There was nothing there but a long red mark, like the kind you get if you scratch an itch to hard. Thank God, Ichigo thought. I thought I had gotten cut for a moment.

Breathing a sigh of release he released his sleeve and walked to where Rukia was talking to the scared boy, setting Zangetsu back on his back he walked.

"Soul Society is not a bad place. You'll be at peace there." She rubbed the kid's shoulders one more time before drawing Sode no Shirayuki. When she performed the soul burial and re-sheathed her zanpaktou, she turned to Ichigo.

"Seems like you didn't have any trouble with the Hollow," she said.

"No, except for its strange reiatsu it was just like any other Hollow."

She nodded. "Let's go. When we get home, I'll send Soul Society the report."

"Alright." He looked down at her as they walked. "Ya know, it's nice having you back, Partner."

"Thanks," she met his eyes, "beside who else is going to keep you from becoming strawberry jelly if I'm not here to keep you in line?"

Ichigo stopped. "Hey! How's having a midget around supposed to keep me from being strawberry jelly? And what makes you think I'd even ever become strawberry jelly!"

Rukia let out a laugh and took off running. "Come and catch me if you can Strawberry!"

"What do I get if I catch you?" Ichigo yelled after her.

Rukia stopped her escape and looked back at him. She thought about it for a minute. "You get to celebrate my return by taking me to a movie Friday."

Ichigo raised a brow. "How is that a prize?" At her glare, he relented. "Okay okay. What do you get if you get back first?"

"You get to take me to a movie _and_ shopping at the new Chappy store in the mall."

"What? Rukia, come on! Besides you've been here for three day, count 'em _three_, how do you already know about a new store full of those hideous rabbits?"

"I have my sources. And they're NOT hideous! Just suck it up and take it like a man!"

Ichgio heaved a sigh. "Jeez."

She stood there looking at him, thinking of what a picture he made standing there in the moonlight in this shinigmai robes and his massive zanpaktou on his back. The soft, if somewhat resigned, smile on his face just added to it.

"Ya know if you want me to chase you, you need to run."

Fighting down a blush Rukia turned and looked over her shoulder. "I think a life-size Chappy would look perfect in the corner of your bedroom." And with that she took off, a soft giggle making its what back to Ichigo.

With the threat of a Chappy invasion, Ichigo wasted no time giving chase. He chased her through a series of twists and turns throughout Karakura town. When he finally caught her she was about to leap onto the roof outside his bedroom window.

Landing lightly outside his window with Rukia tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, Ichigo smirked. "Well the movie won't be bad, but thank God my life will be rabbit free for a while longer." He jumped through his window and landed on his bed.

Rukia struggled fruitlessly, occasionally banging a small, but firm fist against Ichigo's back. "Dammit, Ichigo! Put me down!"

"Okay."

_Thud!_

"Ichigo! What the hell'd you drop me for, fool?"

"You said you wanted down. Who was I to deny you?"

Rukia fumed.

Ichigo ignored her.

Finally realizing that Kon and Chappy were not in his room, Ichigo moved toward the door to go find them.

"Oh, Ichigo," Rukia called to him sweetly. A little too sweetly.

"What?"

"I look forward to accompanying you to the theater this Friday." Rukia smiled, already planning to try out the "hissy fit" she had heard about from a romance novel a girl from school had shown her. If she pitched one of those "fits" in the middle of the mall then Ichigo would have to take her to the Chappy store. It worked like that in the book. The woman pitches a fit, and the men around her flock to her and give her what she wants.

"Uh, sure," Ichigo said. He moved out into the hall towards the stairs. _I wonder why she was using that creepy "play" voice she uses on people when she's spinning some wild tale. _

**Hi! Thanks for the reviews on the first chapter. They made me very happy! I hope you enjoy this one too! And don't forget to click the pretty, pretty green button! XD **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

It was Friday night and Ichigo and Rukia were leaving the movie theater.

He'd won Monday so he'd gotten to pick the movie. And when he'd gotten two tickets for the newest action flick, Rukia hadn't batted an eyelash. The movie had been packed full of explosions, speed chases, and cursing characters barely escaping death by the skin of their teeth.

It was dark and the stars were out.

Ichigo grabbed Rukia's hand and said, "Come on, I wanna show you something."

Ichigo lead her away from the crowds and towards the park. He pulled her towards a bunch of bushes. He held them out of the way as Rukia walked by, then took her hand again and pulled her through the trees. When they got to a small clearing, Ichigo brought her to stop in the middle of it.

"Look," he said, pointing up.

Rukia tilted her head and gasped. The stars were beautiful. From where they were standing she could see almost every constellation. It was beautiful. Turning to Ichigo, who stood slightly behind her, she asked, "How on Earth did you find this place?"

Ichigo took her her hand and pulled her to a huge rock. He sat down and pulled her down beside him, his back against the rock, her's against his side and his arm around her.

"My dad showed it to me. And my mom showed it to him before that." Ichigo leaned his head back to look at the Big Dipper while he told the story. "She had known about this place from when she was a little girl and when they were dating she brought my father here. It's where she told him she loved him for the first time. And later on, it's where he proposed to her. When my dad showed it to me a couples years after my mom's death, I would come here to think. Or sometimes I swear I could feel her, hear her laugh, see her smile, and I'd just start talking. I'd talk about dad, Karin, Yuzu, and myself and how we were doing."

Ichigo let a small chuckle. "I bet that sounds crazy."

"Not at all." Rukia waited until he met her eyes. "You had to let your feelings out somewhere and something tells me that you didn't do that too often in front of you family. Because you thought you had to be strong for them."

Ichigo didn't know what to say, so he moved on. Clearing his throat he said, "Speaking of feelings, I think you have something to tell me."

Rukia had never admitted to having feelings for someone ever before, so she didn't know where to start.

"Ichigo, I-," she stopped. "When you were fighting Aizen, the rest of the captains and myself were fighting any Espada that were there. And even during battle, every time your reiatsu flared or dimmed my heart flew up to my throat. I wanted so bad to help, to be at your side, but I knew I would just be in the way. And when the war was over and we were going from place to place helping to put the pieces back together, I started to notice myself staring at you as did one thing or another. Thinking about how you were such a great person."

Ichigo was glad she had looked up at the sky again because she would definitely tease him if she saw his blush.

Rukia continued, "Then one day I was coming to get you and when I turned the corner you were talking to a little girl from the nearest town. Oh what a sight that was." Rukia laughed and now she turned her head to look at him. Thankfully his blush was gone. "There you were, Zangetsu strapped to your back and your usual scowl on your face, talking to this little girl. And you looked more afraid of her than she was of you. But, then you took her hand a led her back to her town."

Holding his gaze firmly she said, "That's when I knew I loved you." Giving a dramatic sigh, her violet eyes full of humor, she grinned up at him, "A strawberry of all things."

Ichigo remembered the day she was talking about. But he didn't know she had been watching him. He squeezed her to him tighter.

"Yeah well, she reminded me of Nel a little bit." He shrugged. "Well, without the mask and the whole super growth spurt thing."

He took a deep breath, the moment of truth had arrived.

"It took me longer to figure out why my breathing sped up and my palms got all sweaty every time I saw you," he continued. Ichigo ran a hand through his orange hair and laughed softly. "Everything about you is special to me. When you're in danger, I can't stop until you're safe. When I need the strength to fight you give it to me."

Rukia had moved so that she was leaning against him with her arms wrapped around his waist, her left hand playing with a button on his shirt. She could feel his hand tracing circles across her back and shoulders.

"When I was laying on the ground after I beat Aizen, I was completely immersed in darkness. It wasn't a bit scary and I didn't mind laying there in it. But then I heard you calling me. It was your voice; I could hear it very clearly. I had to reach you, so I fought my way out of the black and opened my eyes. But you weren't anywhere near me. It was just Inoue. Then you walked up with Renji. I knew it was your voice but I couldn't figure out how I'd heard it, with you coming from so far away. Hearing about everything else, all the damage and stuff, I pushed it back."

"Then later in Soul Society, I noticed myself paying more attention to you. I mean it's not like we've never spent the day together but this was different. With every gesture, every move you made, every time you tucked your hair behind your ear or every time you gave directions or an order, I couldn't help watching you. It wasn't until I was leaving Soul Society and you weren't coming with me that I realized that not having you by me side would hurt."

He gripped her chin in his hand. "I love you, Kuchiki Rukia."

He leaned down and kissed her smiling mouth with his own, his hand moving from her chin to cup the side of her face. Even after the kiss was over, they lingered, faces together, lips a breath away from the others.

They lay there talking about nothing in particular and exchanging smiles and sweet kisses for a little while longer than Rukia happened to glance at Ichigo's watch.

"Oh, lord. We better go, I don't want to worry your dad." She pulled away from Ichigo and stood up, dusting off her dress.

Ichigo had glanced at his watch too. "Man, I didn't realize how late it was." Ichigo placed both hands by his side to push himself up when a sharp pain, almost a burning sensation, shot down his right forearm. Ichigo inhaled sharply. He grabbed his arm and stood up. Rukia had heard his sharp intake of breath and saw him holding his arm.

"What's wrong?" she asked, coming to stand beside him.

Ichigo looked at his arm. It was normal. No pain, no stinging, no nothing.

"Uh, I must have put my hand on something prickly. I'm okay though." He let go of his right arm and dusted his pants off.

"Come on, let's go."

They left the clearing and walked home hand-in-hand, planning the rest of the weekend.

Laying in bed that night, Ichigo rubbed the spot on his forearm. It was the same spot where he'd thought he gotten cut by one of those poisonous Hollow Monday. But he didn't get cut, there was no blood. This was just a coincidence, wasn't it?

Pushing it out of his mind he rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

_Silently, stealthily, he stalked his prey. _

_The little shinigami thought she could run from him, thought she could hide. _

_He would find her. He was drawing nearer even now. The smell of the raven- haired shinigami so much more potent than any other he'd hunted. And once she was dead, he'd be free. For that girl was the one thing that kept his existence in danger. If she stayed alive, his host would fight him, and he'd be pushed out and destroyed. He couldn't let that happen. _

_Sliding from shadow to shadow, he waited for his chance. _

_The shinigami was also hunting. Hunting the very creature that was hunting her. With her hand on the hilt of her zanpaktou, she moved soundlessly through the alleys of Karakura Town. She could feel his reiatst and knew he was near. She turned a corner._

_Now! _

_Quick as lightening, he flew from the shadows and attacked, swiping out with a huge clawed hand. But, the shinigami was ready. As the poison covered claws came down they met with metal. She was fast, but he was stronger. The shinigami pushed away, gripping her sword tighter. She flash stepped behind the hollow and raised her arms above her head. She let out a yell. As she brought the blade down, the creature turned and caught the blade. He swung, hard, and though she tried to keep her grip, the sinigami was thrown against a building._

_Leaning against the wall, coughing from dust inhalation and every bone in her body aching, the shinigami slowly picked herself up. The creature didn't give her time to reach for her zanpaktou. He needed to finish this. As he rushed toward her, he noticed the bleeding head wound and stopped dead. _

_The creature roared. His host was fighting him more now, stronger, harder, than the other times. All because of that filthy shinigami. He charged, and the shinigami didn't have enough time to do anything before the creature had his hand wrapped around her throat. Even as he squeezed, the creature was having a hard time maintaining control. Straining against the powerful force inside him that was trying to beat the poison and take back control, the creature tightened his grip._

_The shinigami girl stared at those hollow, black eyes. They were almost soulless; Nothing but black pits. But she had to try. She could tell something was sopping the creature from using full strength._

_Her vision was going blurry. _

_She gasped and choked out, "Ichigo."_

_Pulling on the hand that was around her neck, she managed to breathe in a short breathe of air._

"_I-Ichigo, I-I know y-you're in there. You have t-to fight it. P-please." _

_The shinigami's eyes closed even as the creature loosened his grip and let out scream._

* * *

Ichigo's eyes opened and he jolted up in bed. He noticed his hands were shaking. He didn't notice that his right hand was shaped much the way it would have been wrapped around someone's throat.

What the hell was that?

He'd had dreams about his Hollow before but that was a long time ago. He controlled his Hollow now, he was king.

He looked at his clock: Three-sixteen in the morning.

Rubbing his face, Ichigo got out of bed and went downstairs. When he got to the kitchen, he ran some water into a glass. As he drank, he could feel himself calm down. Ichigo leaned against the sink, staring at his hands.

It's because I went to sleep thinking about that poisonous Hollow, he thought, that's why I dreamed about it. That's all it is. I'm sure of it. It's nothing more than that.

Stop freaking yourself out man, he told himself.

Shaking his head, Ichigo yawned. He turned back and headed back up the stairs. He crawled back into his bed and pressed his face into his pillow. Pushing anything negative out of his head he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

* * *

It was Wednesday, and Ichigo was tired.

Something was seriously wrong. He'd been having that same dream every night since the first time two weeks ago. Every time he woke, sweating from the nightmare, he couldn't fall asleep again.

He wondered if he should go to his dad for help. Or get in touch with Shinji or Urahura. But, he was getting worried, every time he had that dream, he felt so much anger inside him and he didn't know where it came from.

Ichigo leaned his head back against the wall. It was lunch and he was sitting up on the roof. The weather was warm for the end of October and he wanted to enjoy it. He'd gotten here early because he'd left his last class before the bell had rung, but the others would be here soon. And he wanted to be his usual self when his friends showed up, especially Rukia. She could see through him like glass.

He subconsciously rubbed his forearm. He'd taken to doing that, when he thought about the dreams and what they meant and whether or not he'd been poisoned by that Hollow. But without a cut, he didn't see how that would happen.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

He looked up to see Inoue, Ishida, Chad, and Rukia heading his way. He waved. When they reached him they all took seats somewhere around him. They always sat in a circle, though none of them really realized it.

Rukia was the last to reach him. She sat beside him, leaned over and gave him a quick kiss and a smile. Word of Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia becoming an official couple had spread like wildfire through the school. Nobody had been surprised. Up and down hallways, all Ichigo and Rukia heard was "It's about time" and "Finally". Keigo and Mizuiro had even started a pool and several others had joined in.

Inoue had just started describing her lunch-something that should never be mixed together in everyone else's books- when the Rukia's pager beeped. She looked at it, then up at Ichigo and nodded.

The two of them got up, and Chad looked at them.

"You going to need any help Ichigo?"

Rukia answered before Ichigo could. "No, I don't think so. Its only one Hollow and even though it's one of the poisonous ones it shouldn't be any trouble."

She turned to Ichigo and said, "Let's go, Ichigo."

Ichigo saluted and said, "Yes ma'am."

That got him an elbow to the gut.

He pulled the green mod soul pill that Rukia had made him grab instead of his badge this morning and popped it in his mouth. He separated from his body and turned, now in his shinigami robes, to Kon and said, "Behave."

Kon went and sat, sulking, beside Chappy.

Ichigo and Rukia jumped over the fence that was wrapped around the roof and headed in the direction of the Hollow.

About halfway there, Rukia, who was beside Ichigo, asked, "What's wrong, Ichigo? You looked so tired this morning when you came down for breakfast. And it looks like you haven't been sleeping well at all."

Ichigo looked over at her and saw the concern in her eyes. He didn't want to worry her and until he figured out what was going on he didn't want to get her involved. He tried a smile.

"I'm just worried about these new Hollow. Urahura said that he was positive ten got loose in the real world and we've only gotten rid of five." Technically, that wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

Rukia didn't have time to respond. Ichigo pointed and said, "There."

This Hollow was the smallest of any of this kind they'd faced so far. Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu and came up behind the Hollow.

"Getsuga Tensho!"

A blue crescent shaped blast came from Zangetsu and tore the Hollow into.

Ichigo brought his sword up and as he brought it down behind him, the wrappings covered the blade again. He placed his zanpaktou on his back.

He walked back to Rukia. When he got there she showed him the screen of the pager that was made specifically to sense out these poisonous Hollow.

"Six down, four more to go. Too bad they're so hard to find."

Ichigo twisted his neck side to side to pop it. "Let's go back. I wanna get my body back from Kon."

* * *

Ichigo and Rukia walked through the front door to find an empty house.

But there were cookies on the counter and a note from Yuzu that said to _share_ the cookies. Ichigo didn't have to be genius to figure out she was talking to him. He turned from the counter and went to the fridge.

"Yo, Rukia. What do you want to drink?"

Rukia had just picked up the plate of cookies and was walking to the table. She turned back and said, "Doesn't matter."

Ichigo brought two glasses of Coke to the table.

He suddenly remembered something she'd said when she'd first come back. He'd been thinking about her being there and the new Hollow problem but now he brought it up.

"What kind of training did you teach the recruits."

Rukia furrowed her brows. Then she knew what he was talking about.

"Kido. Just sort of a brush-up course from what they learned in the Academy. We took away their zanpaktou and put them in teams of three to defeat Hollow with their kido only."

"Just you own division or everyone's?"

"Basically, anybody who asked for us to come and help."

Just then the phone rang and Ichigo got up to answer it leaving his last cookie on his napkin. After explain that his dad was out and that Ichigo was not sure when he'd be back, Ichigo walked back to the table. Rukia had cleaned it off, everything was gone. Including his cookie.

"Oi! Did you eat my cookie."

Rukia, who was walking toward the stairs with their book bags, turned. "Maybe," she said.

"Oh you're gonna pay for that!" Ichigo reached for her, but she was already halfway up the stairs. Her laugh ringing down to him. He felt a thrill go up his spine. A chase, he enjoyed chasing his prey. Running up the stairs after her, he grabbed her from behind before she got to his bedroom door and when he had her he pulled her inside, slammed the door and pushed her against it. Not even noticing the picture of the whole gang at the beach Inoue had given for his seventeenth birthday this past July, get knocked over and nearly fall to the floor.

Rukia caught her breath as she looked in Ichigo's eyes. There was need in those beautiful amber eyes, a need for her. She didn't get another chance to have another rational thought because Ichigo brought his mouth down on hers.

The kiss was deep and long. He could taste the coke from her lips. Rukia wrapped her arms around his neck as Ichigo ran his hand down her left side. Down the waist, over the hip, and down to the knee where he wrapped his hand around her knee and brought her leg up to his waist.

Ichigo was going crazy. She was sweet, God, she tasted so sweet. She was intoxicating. He hoisted her up and she wrapped both legs around his waist. He backed up and turned toward the bed. When they fell onto it, Ichigo trailed kissed down her throat to her collar bone then back up until he reached her mouth, which he took, in another passionate kiss.

Rukia ran her hands across his back and shoulders, than down his chest, than back up to grip his shoulders as he lightly bit her neck. She moaned.

_Kill, kill, kill, kill. A strange voice whispered in his head, barely audible._

Ichigo barely registered it. Who wanted to listen to the voices in his head when he was holding the woman he loved?

But he stopped. He looked in Rukia's violet eyes as he framed her face with his hands.

"I love you."

She smiled. "Good."

She reared up and met his lips, dragging him back down with her. With one hand he popped open the buttons on her shirt. He studied the white camisole underneath. As he ran more kisses down her jaw line, she undid the buttons on his shirt. When he got to lacey V of the camisole, her breath caught. She stopped breathing all together when he ran his hands across her stomach while he was tracing that V with the tip of his tongue.

_Kill the shinigami._

That strange voice came back.

_Kill the shinigami._

Ichigo froze.

_Kill, kill, kill, kill. _

He felt it, the urge to wrap his hands around that beautiful neck and squeeze.

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

He didn't hear her, he didn't see her even as he stared right at her. All he heard was that raspy, alien voice telling him to kill one of the most important people in his life.

"No!" Ichigo jumped off his bed and back away.

Rukia sat up, her eyes wide and full of worry. Ichigo look almost terrified. She got off the bed and moved toward him.

"Ichigo? Ichigo, what's wrong?"

With every step she took towards him, he took two back until he hit the wall.

"Rukia, please, stay back! I don't wanna hurt you!"

The look in his eyes was hurting her. Her forehead wrinkled. "What do you mean you don't want to hurt me? How could you ever hurt me?" He avoided her eyes.

She was in front of him now. Rukia reached up and placed her palms on each side of her face, forcing him to look at her.

"Tell me."

Her voice was firm.

Ichigo placed his hands over hers which were still on his face. He'd wanted to keep her out of this for as long as possible, turns out that wasn't very long at all.

Violet bore into amber. The small, but strong hands under his were calming him, when just minutes ago he'd felt like snapping. She was like his anchor, keeping him tied to reality.

He was a fool.

He shouldn't have even thought about keeping her out of this. He didn't know what was happening to him. From the dreams, the hate he felt that would sneak up on him, the voice in his head, everything. And he was scared. He took both her hands and brought them down and held them. He needed her, so he told her what he thought was happening.

"I think I got cut by that poisonous Hollow, the first one several weeks ago when you first got back."

Shock crossed her features. "Ichigo! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I didn't want to get you involved yet. Just in case it turned out to be nothing, I didn't want you worried; besides there _was _no cut. After I killed that Hollow I felt something, like, sting or burn my arm right here." He rubbed his right forearm. "But, when I looked there was nothing there, nothing."

Rukia was running her fingers over the spot Ichigo had shown her.

Ichigo continued. "Then, I started having these dreams, real intense ones. In them, I'm stalking someone, hiding in the shadows, imagining nothing but this person's death, because this person's death would make my host relinquish complete control of his body. And when I finally catch them, I have my hand wrapped around their throat."

Ichigo's hands had folded into fists inside Rukia's, his knuckles were white. "This person tries with their last breath to call out to me, to fight the creature that's controlling me, and I try. That's what I'm doing when I wake up, the me inside the monster is trying to fight for control."

Rukia led Ichigo back to the bed. Sitting down beside him, facing him, still holding his hands, she asks the question that, somehow, she already knew the answer to.

"Ichigo, who are you hunting?"

Ichigo looked up, the fear she'd seen in them earlier stronger.

"You."

"Ichigo," Rukia got up. "Come with me."

"R-Rukia?" She was turning in circles, like she was looking for something. "Where are we going?"

Her voice was firm again. Ichigo knew she wouldn't take no for an answer. "Soul Society; You need to talk to Urahura." She finally locked onto their school bags that had been dropped, forgotten, by the door.

She was rummaging through her back pack until she found her Chappy pill dispenser. She looked back at Ichigo, "Get Kon. Explain whats going on to him, he can explain it to your dad and Karin and Inoue and the others. He also needs to give them the Hollow pager, they'll have to take care of any poisonous Hollow while we're gone."

Things moved quickly after Ichigo explained-a less detailed account- to Kon about why they were going to Soul Society. Ichigo had watched Rukia the entire time she told Kon what to do about the pager and how to explain things to their friends. She was worried. He knew he should have found some way to get in touch with Urahura sooner, but that would have meant admitting that he couldn't do it on his own.

Then, Ichigo and Rukia, both in the shinigami robes, jumped up in the air. Rukia unsheathed Sode no Shirayuki and opened a Senkaimon. She then realeased two Hell Butterflies-Ichigo didn't ask where she got them, probably from Urahura- and they stepped into the gate on their way to Soul Society.

* * *

Hello, hello! Ok, I seriously think this story has a mind of its own. Because, well, because it just might, okay. Because the things I had planned, like a more normal high school relationship, got tossed out the window by the time the first page of this chapter was written. Besides, our Dynamic Duo has to go through trials to prove their love and yadi-yah-yah, you get the picture? Anyway thanks for reviewing this story. Thanks times ten, actually. Up next, I was thinking Rukia might get a little visit from Hichigo, but we'll see! And we'll definitely find out what that Hollow did to Ichigo, I think. I'm a little scattered, but please stick with me!! Please tell me what you think of this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Unlike most of times he'd had to a use Senkaimon Gate, this time they had Hell Butterflies so as they were on their way to Soul Society Ichigo and Rukia could actually _walk _through the passage way instead of the usual running-for-your-life-or-get-killed way. Ichigo shuddered when he remembered how many times he'd done just that.

Ichigo looked over at Rukia, who was on his right side. She had that crease between her eyes that she only gets when she's really worried. He grabbed her hand, linking his fingers through hers.

"Hey, I'm sure everything going fine. Urahura'll stick me under some machine, the nod and write something on a chart, and then give me a shot and a lollipop and send me on my way." He wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure, her or himself.

Keeping her gaze fixed ahead, Rukia nodded. They walked for a few more feet when Rukia, still holding his hand, got in front of Ichigo and walked backwards, looking at him.

"I hope so." Eyes fierce, she said, "And if everything is not all right, I will personally kick your sorry ass. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

Rukia eyed him warily. Then she turned back around and started pulling him, like by doing that he'd move faster.

They were almost to the gate when Ichigo said, "Hey Rukia, I'm sorry about earlier."

Still pulling him forward, Rukia spared him a look. "If you're apologizing for not telling me about this earlier, than apology accepted. But if your apologizing for…other things, save your breath."

"But I was rough, maybe a little too rough and maybe a little fast, I just-"

Rukia cut him off. "Ichigo shut up. You didn't do anything I didn't want or like."

That made him feel a little better; after all, he'd just wanted to get her for eating his cookie, but when she'd tossed that impish grin over her shoulder, he'd felt a yearning for her, to make her _his_.

They were at the gate and as it was opening for them Rukia said, "As for you being rough," she looked back at him, one corner of her mouth turned up, her eyes wicked, "I kinda liked it."

Ichigo stopped dead. Or he would have had he not been being pulled by a midget who was all too eager to get him poked and prodded by needles. Oh God, he hated needles. So the result was more of a trip, and as he fell forward he collided with Rukia and sent both of them barreling through the gate and into the dirt of Soul Society.

Ichigo had managed to turn so that when they'd landed Ichigo had hit the ground and Rukia was sitting on top of him.

Coughing through the dust, he asked, "You okay?"

She punched his shoulder. "What was that? How long you been walking?"

Still coughing Ichigo said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Then noticing her position she smiled and the wicked gleam came back to her eyes. Placing each knee on the ground next to his waist, she straddled him. Ichigo swallowed. Then grabbing his wrists, she held them over his head and leaned forward, but before she carry out her plan, someone cleared their throat.

Rukia snapped her head up and Ichigo moved his head back so he could look up at the person.

Standing there red-faced and rubbing his neck was Renji. Ichigo looked at Rukia; Rukia looked at Ichigo. Then, in a flurry of dust, flapping arms, and black robes, the two shinigami stood up and straightened up and dusted off their robes.

"Um, didn't mean to, er, interrupt anything, I just felt you guys' reiatsu and headed this way." Renji shuffled his feet. He really wished he hadn't seen that. He looked at Rukia and his blush got deeper. "Um, Rukia," he motioned to her collar by touching the place he was talking about on his own neck.

Rukia glanced down and gasped. The left side of her shinigami robes was a little loose and had slipped down her shoulder, revealing one of the marks Ichigo had placed on her last night. She turned slightly away from the guys and quickly pulled the robes closed and tighten the sash. Turning back she looked at Renji and broke the cone of awkward that had settled over the three.

"Hey, Captain!"

Clearing his throat Renji stood straighter and raised a hand to the white captains haori he wore over the black shinigami robes. He grinned, "Hey, Rukia."

"Hey congrats man. You deserve it, just don't corrupt any new recruits." Ichigo held out his arm, which Renji then grasped at the elbow while Ichigo did the same to him and they did one of those guy hugs.

Releasing Ichigo's arm Renji asked, "So what brings you two back to Soul Society?"

"We, uh, need to see Urahura," Ichigo said.

"Why-"

"We'll explain when we get there," Rukia interrupted. They'd stood here long enough. "Let's go."

They hadn't gotten very far when Renji asked, "So, who won the pool?"

Automatically knowing what his red headed friend was talking about, Ichigo said, "Mizuiro, Tatsuki, Chad, and Ishida."

Letting out a bark of laughter Renji put an arm around each of his friends' shoulders. "Well, now comes the hard part." Bringing the two of them in closer he whispered evilly, "Telling Captain Kuchiki."

Ichigo paled visibly, while Rukia just said, "What's so hard about that? Nii-sama will understand."

Well, it was fun while it lasted, Ichigo thought. And hey maybe if we tell him now we won't have to bother Urahura at all. I can just have a quick and painless death and skip the needles. Ichigo sighed, he knew this was coming and it hadn't bothered him, but now that _that_ moment was coming, he was nervous. Not because he was afraid of Byakuya, but because he wanted the man's acceptance. He wanted Byakuya's acknowledgement that he was an equal worthy of Rukia.

"I'm pretty sure Urahara feels your reiastsu now so let's hurry and go to Twelfth Division." Renji released the midget and the strawberry. "You can explain what's going on too."

Renji was surprised at how much it didn't hurt to see the two of them together. He didn't remember when his feelings for her had changed back being simple friendship.

The three shinigami headed off in the direction of Twelfth Division.

* * *

The only thing that had changed about Urahura Kisuke was the fact that he now wore black shinigami robes and a white captain's haori. He still had the trademark hat, sandals, and fan. Ichigo shook his head. It was nice to see the man who had trained him first again.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Urahura gushed. "What a surprise! And Kuchiki-san and Abarai-kun too!" He fanned himself. "What brings you two kiddies to my part of the woods?"

"Uh, can we go somewhere else?" Ichigo asked. He didn't really want to talk about his problem in front of these researchers. And there was a problem; a big one. Ichigo could feel it inside, like it was an evil pulse.

"Certainly, certainly, right this way." Urahura turned and led them to a sitting room. After the three young shinigami entered, Urahura slid the doors shut and took a sit at the table, motioning for them to do the same.

At Urahura's nod, Ichigo told him and Renji everything. From the battle with the hollow and how he felt the sting but had not received a cut, the dreams of him being some kind of creature chasing Rukia, the anger he would occasionally feel that he had no clue where it came from, and the evil presence he felt inside. Finally, he told him about the voice telling him to kill shinigamis.

Urahura took all this in calmly. "Well, you definitely weren't poisoned. None of the other cases were reported to have heard voices or had mood swings before they passed."

Rukia spoke up. "How many have died since I left almost three weeks ago?"

"Thankfully only two, and the number of these poison Hollow in Soul Society has dropped dramatically. I expect them to be completely gone in a few days."

Urahura narrowed his eyes. "Could your Hollow be responsible for this?"

Ichigo shook his head. "No, it's not him. I'd know it if it was him and I wouldn't be freaked out like I am now."

He looked back at Ichigo and said, "No worries! We'll get to the bottom of this! Now, my boy, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to do some tests. Though we can rule out poison, the burning sensation you've felt in the same spot as the supposed cut, I need to find out what I can about that. So, Kurosaki-kun if you would follow me we'll get this over with. Kuchiki-san, you and Abarai-kun may leave or stay, this will take a while."

Rukia looked like she was going to stay but Ichigo said, "Go. I'll be fine. Gotta protect my ass, right?"

Rukia nodded. "Alright. I'll go on to my division and see Captain Utitake."

As she turned to leave Ichigo noticed the crease had returned.

"Later man," Renji threw a hand up and followed Rukia out.

Ichigo sighed and followed Urahura a little warily, the man looked a little too happy to be running tests on a live specimen.

Outside, Rukia was walking with her head down, looking at the ground. Renji put a hand on her shoulder stopping her.

"Hey."

He waited until she looked at him. "He'll be okay. This is Ichigo we're talking about here."

Grateful for her friend, Rukia forced a smile and nodded. But when they started walking again neither said a word on their way to Thirteenth Division.

* * *

As soon as he was outside in the sunlight and fresh air, Ichigo took a deep breath and tried to forget past two and a half hours full of needles, needles, needles, and oh yeah did he mention needles? Stretching his arms above his head, he walked toward the center of Soul Society.

When he reached Rukia's division he ran into Shunsui Kyoraku and Jushiro Utitake. Utitake immediately brightened.

"Ichigo-kun!"

"Utitake-san," Ichigo smiled and nodded.

"I was going to look for you."

"You were?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. Kuchiki-san told me you were talking with Urahura but I wanted to speak to you as well."

Kyoraku jumped in. " Jushiro just wanted to thank you for watching over Kuchiki-san."

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair. "No problem."

Utitake went on. "I must admit, I do worry about Kuchiki-san, but I know that as long as you're with her she'll be safe."

"Yes sir. I'll never let anything happen to her."

Kyoraku patted Ichigo on the shoulder. "See Jushiro, nothing to worry about. I'm sure Ichigo will be keeping a close, _personal_ eye on her while she is on her mission."

"Of course," Utitake said.

Ichigo spotted Rukia coming around the corner and said, "It was nice seeing you two again. I won't let you down."

Excusing himself, Ichigo hurried to follow after Rukia.

Watching the young man hurry in the direction they knew Rukia to be in, they shared a knowing look and continued on their way.

"Let's go have a drink, Jushiro."

"We just had one not thirty minutes ago."

* * *

After leaving the two captains, Ichigo turned the same corner as Rukia and almost missed her.

"Rukia!"

Rukia stopped and turned around. Ichigo came bounding up to her.

"Urahura finally finished the te-" Rukia clamped a hand over his mouth and looked around. There were several shinigami gathered here and there and this was a conversation they didn't need to overhear.

"Let's go for a walk," she said.

"Uh, okay." Ichigo let her lead him away.

They kept walking- not holding hands again until they got away from the public- until they reached a nice, cool grassy spot right before the Rukongai limits. Ichigo sat down and pulled Rukia down in front of him. He could see the questions in her eyes, but before she could ask he shook his head.

"Urahura told me that it would take a while to get the results, but he is positive that the Hollow didn't poison me. And he told me that if the dreams get to be too much he would give me some kind of experimental drug to take, but I don't think that's gonna happen. He also told me to have a talk with my Hollow, well it'll be more of a sparring match than a talk, but other than that he actually doesn't have a clue. He's close to developing an antidote for the Hollow poison, but since I'm not infected it won't fix me." Ichigo sighed, "Whatever the hell's a matter with me."

Rukia didn't say anything, she just sat there holding his hand.

Ichigo got a faraway look in his eyes. "You know," Ichigo stopped.

"What is it?" She didn't even try to avert his attention to her.

"The whole time Urahura was running his tests, I could see the gears in his head turning, struggling to find an answer. He looked," now Ichigo did look at Rukia, "he looked perplexed. Almost as perplexed as me as I was looking at all those buttons and things."

"Ichigo, are you sure it's not your Hollow trying to take over?"

"No, this _sneaky _way, the dreams and everything, the subtleness of everything it's not his style. Besides, that voice I heard was not his. This voice was completely different. Almost terrifyingly different," he admitted since it was Rukia.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going find me a nice quiet spot and have a talk with my Hollow and the old man like Urahura said to. I will figure out what's going on." He said determinedly. "I won't give this thing a chance to hurt you."

"I'll crush its very life-force if it tries."

Rukia got up on her knees and kissed him, wrapping her left arm around his neck and putting her right hand against his cheek. Together they laid back on the ground, side by side and watched the clouds, fingers entwined.

"How long we got before you'll be needed for anything specific?" Ichigo asked.

"A while, why?" Rukia looked at him.

"Let's just lay here." He turned his head to look at her. "Talk to me. I don't care about what, just talk, anything to take my mind off the other stuff."

So Rukia started talking. She kept talking, with a few interruptions from Ichigo, until a Hell Butterfly floated above her head and requested her presence in Captain Utitake's office.

Ichigo had just finished dropping Rukia off at her division and was walking through Seireitei, when someone called his name. Turning, he saw Renji, Ikkaku, Hisagi, Yumichika and Kira heading his way.

"Yo, Ichigo!" Ikkaku grinned and yelled while they were still a ways off.

Ichigo threw up a hand in greeting. Then, when the five shinigami appeared in front of him using shunpo, he said, "Hey, guys."

Renji wasted no time. "We're heading to the training grounds for a couple of friendly sparring matches, wanna come?"

"Yeah Ichigo, it would even the numbers and I wanna take a shot at you!" Ikkaku, ever enthusiastic about fighting, said.

Yumichika knocked some dirt off his shoulder. "Even numbers are prettier than odd ones."

"Er, yeah," Ichigo turned from his feathered friend. "Yeah, I'm in."

"Great!" Renji slapped Ichigo on the back.

Ichigo almost asked why they weren't using Urahura's cave, but then realized no one else knew about it but a certain few.

When they got to the grounds, they paired off: Renji and Kira, Ichigo and Ikkaku, Yumichikia and Hisagi. Within minutes, the sounds of zanpaktous clashing one another, curses, and yells could be heard throughout the arena.

Ikkaku grinned and laughed as he jumped in the air and spun his spear like shikai. He brought the tip down with a yell. Ichigo brought Zangetsu up in an arch, pushing the other blade and causing the other shinigami to jump back to avoid the silver and black cleaver like blade.

With a grin of his own, Ichigo walked towards Ikkaku spinning Zangetsu over his head by the cloth. With a snap of his wrist his sent the spinning blade towards Ikkaku. Ikkaku blocked it and watched as the orange haired shinigami pulled the sword back by its cloth and resumed spinning it.

Ikkaku flash stepped behind Ichigo and, from above, brought his zanpaktou down forcing Ichigo to stop the spinning and block. The shoved away from one another and Ichigo charged. He flash stepped to Ikkaku's left and attacked. Ikkaku blocked and forced Ichigo back. He looked at his shoulder. The black cloth had been ripped and a bit of red showed on his skin.

He grinned at Ichigo. "Nice."

"I meant to take your sleeve without cutting you." Ichigo used both hands to grip Zangetsu, "Next time I will!"

As he and Ikkaku headed towards one another, Ichigo heard the voice again.

_Kill, kill, kill the shinigami._

Ichigo stopped.

Ikkaku kept up his assault. When he was almost to him he raised zanpaktou, but quickly pulled back when the Substitute Shinigami stabbed his zanpaktou in the ground, grabbed his head and fell to his knees.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo didn't hear them; all he heard was the sound of that voice ringing in his ears.

What are you? He asked it. Why the hell are you in my head, you bastard!

_I'll take your body and kill all shinigami._ The alien voice whispered.

Like hell you'll take my body! Get out! As he forced the angry entity away he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Ichigo dropped his hands from his head and put them on the ground. On all fours, he watched the world go black.

"Ichigo!"

Renji grabbed his shoulders. "Oi, Ichigo! Whats wrong?"

Ichigo raised his head and looked at the red head. The five shinigami around him- they had stopped their own fights- gasped. For the warm amber eyes of their friend had been replaced by black ones with yellow irises.

In Ichigo's voice, his Hollow greeted them. "Yo!"

Renji stood up, as did Hichigo. The five shinigami readied their swords.

"Now, now, you want be needing them." Hichigo raised his hands.

Renji asked, "Where's Ichigo?"

"He's tired." Ichigo's body took a step forward. "Now, I have some business with one of you."

Smiling, Hichigo asked, "Where is Kuchiki Rukia?"

Rukia had been in her captain's office with him and Captain Kyoruka when the Hell Butterfly had come to her and told her she was needed at the practice arena, that it was about Ichigo and she should bring a captain. Of course, her heart had flown into her throat.

As she flash stepped to the arena, Captains Utitake and Kyoruka followed close behind. When she got there she saw Renji, Kira, Hisagi, and Yumichikia, and Ikkaku standing in a circle. As she approached them she saw Ichigo standing in the middle of that circle.

His back was turned to her when she walked into the circle behind him, Utitake and Kyoruka stood outside beside Renji and Ikkaku.

She knew why she had been called. She spoke to the back of the familiar orange head.

"You're not Ichigo."

When he turned to face her, the first thing she saw was the black and yellow eyes. That was the only thing that was different. He smiled at her.

"Yo, Queen! I'm finally meeting you face to face."

"Where's Ichigo?"

"Relax," Hichigo held up his hands. "He's resting. Fightin somethin in your soul'll make ya tired."

Rukia drew her eyebrows together. "What do you mean 'he's fightin somethin in his soul'? The only thing in his soul that would fight him for control is you."

Ichigo's Hollow snorted. "Yeah, well right now he's pretty much got me beat. For now."

He walked over to Rukia. When Renji moved to stop him, Rukia held him off with a motion of her hand.

"You see, Queen." Hichigo rubbed Ichigo's hands together. "Right now, Ichigo's soul is stronger than ever before. So strong that I should I even attempt to take control, it would be useless. Do you know why that is, Queen?"

Rukia lifted her chin and stared him in the eyes. "No."

"It's because of you."

Rukia's eye widened. The others behind her looked at each other. This situation was too weird for them.

"Me? How?"

Ichigo's voice was dripping with disgust as Hichigo spoke, "Because of your love."

"Every king needs a queen and when Ichigo fell I love with you and you loved him back, lil ol' me's chain got tighter." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and turned her around and pointed a Zangetsu. "I'm not allowed to come out unless he wants my power. After all, I'm just the horse."

She shrugged his arm of her shoulder, "What does any of this have to with what Ichigo is fighting?"

The Hollow continued as if he hadn't heard her. "Ichigo's getting stronger and as he gets stronger, so do I. And I'm not the only one that knows it."

"When Ichigo got cut by that Hollow, and yes he did get cut by it, the Hollow in question entered Ichigo's soul through that cut and then closed the wound so that it wouldn't be discovered and destroyed."

Rukia gasped. Behind her the others-other than Renji- didn't know what was going on, but it didn't sound good.

"Wait, it's in his soul? Is it hurting him? What does it want?"

"No, it's tryin to take control. That's why it chose him out of what I assume was the two of you, because Ichigo's got me. Otherwise, he would have been poisoned. And what do all Hollow want? The death of shinigamis."

Ichigo's body shuddered. "He's waking up so I'll leave with this. If my existence wasn't on the line I wouldn't even bother, but if Ichigo doesn't fight with me, to rid his soul of the entity, he won't have to worry about me anymore. We'll both be dead. Cuz once this thing takes over, the only way to get rid of would be to kill it; meaning to kill Ichigo. Ichigo has to destroy the invader. And he'll need you to do that."

Rukia stared wide-eyed at Ichigo's body as his Hollow grinned that disturbing grin waved and then, Ichigo blinked and his eyes were back to being amber.

Ichigo felt light headed. When he swayed, Rukia steadied him.

He looked up to see everyone staring at him. Then he realized who had steadied him.

"Rukia! What are you doing here?"

"Ichigo, you don't know what happened?"

Ichigo shook his head. "All I remember is a sharp pain in my chest then blacking out." He looked around at the faces of those around him, turned back to Rukia and asked warily, "What?"

"We had a little visit from your Horse."

* * *

Ok, finally got this chapter done. Had a little detour when I got caught up in a Loveless story I was writing. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think of this chapter! The next chapter may take awhile, got a lot of reading to do for school. Good thing I like Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, but not too sure about the others.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

When Rukia had walked up to Ichigo and felt something different in his reiatsu, she had immediately known what is was. His Hollow. And even when _he_ had turned around, and she'd seen the eyes from behind his mask, she didn't fear him. Instead of fear, she'd started analyzing. The only time she had felt even the slightest tinge of fear was when _he_ had informed her of Ichigo's upcoming battle. But now, she was terrified.

She and Ichigo stood in the First Division's barracks, surrounded by thirteen captains and vice-captains, and the Captain-Commander was being informed of the current situation by Urahura. What had her terrified was an unopened scroll from the Central 46. She didn't know how they had learned of this situation so fast considering the division captains were just now being informed, but for months now there had been suspicions of Central 46 spies in the Gotei 13. This was a possible threat to the newly re-organized Soul Society. They didn't care that Ichigo was the savior that made that rebuilding possible, all they cared about was keeping that peace; Even if that meant killing Ichigo. And that scroll held their reaction.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Yamamoto said. "You seem to have a magnet for trouble."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Ichigo said dryly. He was standing as close to Rukia as possible without raising the flags of a certain stick-in-the-mud. She relaxed him, despite what she had told him and the imminent battle for control he was facing. He was getting a little tired of those. It was his body for God sakes, why should he have to fight to keep it? Gramps was still getting updated or whatever the hell Urahara was doing, so Ichigo thought back to when he'd "woken up" and Rukia had told him about what his Hollow had said yesterday.

_Ichigo stared at Rukia. Rukia, Renji, and the others who had been present, except for captains Utitake and Kyoraku who had gone back to own divisions, at the training grounds sat around the table in the same room he'd first told Urahura about his worries. But Ichigo didn't look at them; he kept his eyes on the violet ones that stayed on his own amber ones. _

_As Rukia told him what his Hollow had said about how this thing had gotten in his soul, Ichigo had interrupted several times until Rukia had yelled at him to sit down and shut up. It wasn't until she had said that that he noticed that he had indeed gotten to his feet. When he sat back down, he listened as she told him about how his Hollow had said the only way to defeat the alien Hollow was to fight it inside his soul. Great, Ichigo thought. Where have I heard this before?_

_When Rukia finished telling him what had occurred while he took his nap- to which Ichigo had said, "It wasn't a nap. I was just resting. Fighting an unknown entity that is hiding in your soul waiting for your weakest moment so that it can take control of your body and do horrible deeds with it, is very tiring."- Ichigo's eyebrows were drawn together. He was thinking. _

_Okay. So he had a blood thirsty Hollow trying to drive him crazy, what else was new. Except for the fact that this particular blood thirsty Hollow, Ichigo had no control over. No big deal, right? Hell yes this is a big deal, he yelled at himself. The last time he'd had to go inside and fight for control, he'd had eight powerful Viazards keeping him under control. Well, somewhat under control any way. But now, there's no possible way he could do that, not now, especially not now when he didn't even know what would happen _outside_ while he was fighting _inside. _With the Viazards, Ichigo knew he had gone full Hollow, and without Hachi's barriers Ichigo wasn't sure he wanted to try around Soul Society. Not when, in the past few weeks, "Ichigo" had strangled Rukia in those frighteningly real dreams. _

_Around him his friends were talking amongst themselves. He looked up at Urahara to see the mysterious ex-shop keeper watching him._

"_Is there any way to track down Shinji and the others? If I have to go back inside my soul, I'll need them. They'd be the only ones who would know what to do. Other than you, that is. But there's only one of you."_

_The shinigami in the room, save Rukia, stopped their conversations at the mention of the Viazards. Even though their help is what had turned the war with Aizen in Soul Society's favor, Ichigo's masked comrades were still not quite trusted. Even Renji, who'd gotten to know Shinji and Hiyori during the aftermath of the war, was still undecided about the ex-ranked shinigami._

_Urahara's mouth quirked up in the corner, he'd known Ichigo would ask for his Viazard friends eventually. The door behind Ichigo opened, everyone turned to see who was entering. So he'd contacted a certain sexy companion of his who could track them down in a flash._

_Standing in the wide doorway, was Yoruichi Shihoin, framed by the familiar forms of Shinji Hirako, Hiyori Sarugaki, Kensei Muguruma, Hachigen Ushoda, Love Aikawa, Mashiro Kuna, Lisa Yadomaru, and Rojuro Otoribashi. _

_Urahara fanned his face. Hmm, a new record, he thought. Finding Shinji's group so fast was quick even for the God of Flash herself. He'd contacted her right after Ichigo had left this afternoon and it was dusk now. He'd bet she wouldn't find them until tomorrow morning at least. Urahara sighed. Looks like he'd have to part with his red dragon kimono after all; he saved it for special occasions and Yoruichi had had her eyes on it for awhile. _

_Ichigo stared, dumbstruck. In the back of his head somewhere, the part of him that still denied Urahara knew everything finally shut up. _

"_Yo, Ichigo," Shinji said lazily._

"_Hey, Berry-tan!" Mashiro said and detached herself from an annoyed Kensei to bounce into the room._

"_Hello, Ichigo-kun." Hachi gave a slight bow of his head._

_Relieved to be free, Kensei strode forward. He nodded his head at Ichigo with an accompanied "Ichigo", and then went straight for Hisagi. When pupil had been reunited with role model, Hisagi had been more welcoming towards the Viazards then the others. But there was still a hint of distrust in his eyes. The others greeted him, then when Ichigo still sat and stared Hiyori moved._

"_Get that stupid look of you face! Dumbass!" She sent a well place kick flying into his head._

_While Ichigo was being beat with a sandal, Shinji wandered over to Rukia._

"_Hello Rukia-chan." _

"_Hello, Shinji." Rukia smiled. She had gotten to know the Viazards during the war and had liked them immediately. It hadn't been long before she had come to trust them._

_Making sure Ichigo, who had managed to subdue Hiyori, was watching he picked up Rukia's hand and gave it a kiss. When he gave her a wink, Rukia smiled._

"_Oi, what are you doing?" Trying his best to keep Hiyori at arm's length, Ichigo glared at the hand that was holding Rukia's. _

_Helping Rukia to her feet, Shinji got an evil glint to his eyes. "Rukia-chan, how's a bouts I treat you tonight?"_

_Playing along, Rukia looked pointedly at Ichigo. "I don't see why not."_

_Ichigo growled. They were playing him. But, before he could reclaim what was his, Yoruichi interrupted._

"_Ichigo." She spoke in her normal tone of voice. Yoruichi hardly ever needed to raise her voice. _

_Ichigo looked at her, meeting the gold eyes. _

"_The Captain-Commander gave the Viazards permission to stay in Soul Society for the amount of time it takes you to do this. Kisuke filled them in on the earlier incidents. Right now, feel them in on what happened today."_

_Ichigo nodded. Before he could start though, Urahara turned to Kira, Hisagi, Ikkaku, Renji, and Yumichika and said, "I believe you three have squads to be attending to and I'm sure Kenpachi has some fight for you two to referee."_

_They took the hint. Having the Viazards here made them uncomfortable so Urahura was giving them an excuse. Ikkaku, who had been leaning on the wall twirling his still sheathed zanpaktou with his fingers, nodded._

_As they left, the Viazards moved toward Ichigo. Rukia sat down next to him. The tension that had temporarily disappeared with the Viazards' entrance was now back. His tone serious, Ichigo relayed everything that had been told to him to his comrades. _

"_I'll be honest Ichigo," Shinji was spinning his hat on his fingers, a move that could be taken as relaxed or nervous. "The same technique we used when training ya to suppress your Hollow may not work. The first time ya were fighting another half of your own soul. This time though, it's something entirely different. You're not fightin' for control, you're fightin' for survival."_

_They planned the tactics and decided to do it as soon as possible. Meet tomorrow morning at ten at Urahara's secret cave. Shinji and the others were staying with Urahara and as Ichigo and Rukia had left that night, Shinji had told Ichigo to be ready for a long day tomorrow. But as Ichigo had walked into Urahara's hidden training cave, where he'd achieved bankai, Urahara had come to get them with a message of a captain meeting; A meeting about Ichigo._

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Huh?" Ichigo was pulled from the recount by a sharp jab to his stomach courtesy of Rukia. Rubbing the sore spot he looked up at the Captain- Commander.

"You will go through with your plan, with the help of Shinji Hirako's group." Yamamoto said in his gruff voice. "I expect this matter will be taken care of and put behind us in no time."

A small, weasel-like man stepped up next to Yamamoto, holding the scroll from Central 46, and cleared his throat.

"Surely you are not forgetting the orders from Central 46 are you Captain-Commander?"

Rukia tensed next to him and he looked at her with a questioning look on his face. The weasel unrolled the paper and started to read when all of a sudden Captain Kyoraku brought his hands to his mouth- was that a hand sign he made?- and cough and a small, almost unnoticeable ball of red flew from his fingers and straight to the paper Weasel Face held in his hands. Letting out a squeak and dropping the burning paper the skinny man looked up, enraged.

"Who did that? I want to know now! It was done on purpose! That was kido!"

The small man's face was turning red. Yamamoto turned his head and look at him.

"I believe I know what kido is, child."

Kyoraku spoke up. "Sorry 'bout that Yama-jii. I was never that good with kido without using the incantations so Jushiro's been giving me some pointers. It seems that once in a while I can actually accomplish it, though I assure you this was a complete accident. Sometimes things just happen, mindlessly." He tipped his straw hat forward. It was a flimsy excuse but Yamamoto took it.

"Accidents happen. If it was that important, the Central 46 will send another messenger."

Ichigo was surprised. He knew that the new Central 46 was not at all liked among the Gotei 13, but he had figured the Gramps would not tolerate any little things like this. Apparently the tolerance for the high level of Soul Society's government was low in everybody's opinion.

Against the weasel man's sputtering protests, Yamamoto dismissed the meeting and as he and Rukia were leaving, Ichigo was getting reassuring pats on the back or looks from the captains. Well, most of them anyway. Byakuya didn't even look at him and who Ichigo assumed was the Fifth Division captain, the Nakamura guy, looked him up and down while he glared at Ichigo.

Rukia was relieved that the orders from 46 never got read. Looking at Ichigo she figured he didn't know why Captain Kyoraku had destroyed the paper that most likely held his fate. He probably didn't care, she thought. It's not like he ever respected their decisions. She was alive for that very reason.

Because of the meeting, Shinji had told him to be at the same place at the same time tomorrow. No exceptions. So Ichigo asked Rukia if her captain had anything pressing for her to deal with.

"No. He-" Rukia paused. "He understands. That I want to stay by you, that is."

Turning her head to look at Ichigo, who was grinning at her like the idiot he was, Rukia said, "It's amazing how calm you got when Shinji, Hiyori, and the others showed up. I mean, before you had this look in your eye, like, well, like I don't know what. Spooky, that's the only way I can describe. Then, the Viazards walk in and I could see you relax."

Ichigo shrugged. "I guess it's because they knocked some sense to me- literally- last time and I finally saw that I couldn't do it alone, that I didn't know what the hell I was becoming or how to control it. Then, even after I had beaten my Hollow and kept barreling head first into battles without complete training and getting my ass kicked, I don't know, it's just, they knew how I felt, I guess. They had also felt the impatience, the anger, and everything else. I'm one of them."

"Or, I'm more a Viazard then I am a shinigami or human," Ichigo continued. "That's why I feel better doing this with them."

Rukia remembered what his Hollow had told her about Ichigo needing her during this time and wondered how. She had left that part out during her recap to Ichigo, that and the part about her being Queen. Whatever that meant, she'd have to ask.

"Ichigo lets have a picnic," Rukia said suddenly. "Tomorrow morning and for however long after it takes, I'm going to be watching while God knows what is happening to you. I want some time now, just the two of us, like it was the three weeks after I came back."

"Sounds like just what the doctor ordered."

They were stopped outside the Kuchiki Manor gates.

Rukia smiled and rose on her toes to give him a quick peck before running off with a quick "Be right back! Wait there!"

Ichigo smiled after her. While he waited he thought about all that happened. He couldn't believe that it had been yesterday afternoon when he and Rukia had left for Soul Society. With everything that was going on, especially the arrival of the Viazards, and how it had happened so fast, Ichigo was glad to take the time to breathe. For tomorrow he went on a Hollow hunt.

They decided to go back to the spot where they'd escaped to yesterday. Ichigo didn't know what Rukia had put in this basket, but dear God it was heavy. Neither one said anything on the walk, but they liked it that way. Sometimes it was just nice to be near each other and not say anything. When they reached the tree- finally!- Ichigo set the basket down with a thud. They both jumped when the basket said, "Oh!"

Rukia looked at Ichigo; Ichigo looked at Rukia. That was a basket, it wasn't supposed to talk. Ichigo had laid his hand on the lid to open it, when all of a sudden the top flew back and the pink-haired vice-captain of Eleventh Division popped up and said, "Hey, Ichi!"

Ichigo jumped back like he'd been bitten and gave a surprised yell. Losing his balance, Ichigo landed on his butt and Yachiru, taking advantage of his lack of grace, jumped on his stomach.

"Oof!" With the breath knocked out of him, Ichigo made a wild grab for the girl, but Yachiru bounced away.

"Bye Ichi! Bye Kuchiki!"

Ichigo looked incredulous. Rukia had her hands pressed to her stomach, her head thrown back laughing.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I'm sorry, Ichigo." Rukia said, still laughing. "But, if you'd seen your face when she jumped out at you."

Glaring at Rukia- it would do no good to try to get her to stop laughing- Ichigo looked in the basket. There was still some food left. Good.

Ichigo unwrapped some grapes. "Come here."

Having controlled herself, Rukia went and sat down next to him. He passed her the grapes and looked back in the basket.

"How did she even get in here? She ate everything but the fruit."

Rukia smiled and shook her head. "Who knows. Nii-sama has been trying to block all the secret passages that Yachiru uses to get in and out of the manor, but she always finds a way."

"Well, Kenpachi needs to buy a leash." Ichigo sighed when he picked up the plate that used to have the chicken legs on it. "And a muzzle."

After they had eaten the fruit- what they hadn't thrown at each other anyway- they had settles back against the tree. Rukia sat with her back against the trunk and Ichigo had his head in her lap. Rukia was running her hands through his hair, managing to make it stand out even more, when Ichigo spoke about something other than trivial matters.

"What do think was in that scroll that made Kyoraku do that to it?"

She stopped her hands. "Think about it Ichigo. Soul Society is just out of a whole rebuilding phase, the newly appointed Central 46 is not willing to let anything threaten the peace that has come back after Aizen's betrayal." She put her her hand on his forehead and turned his head until his eyes met hers. "And a very strong shinigami being basically possessed by a strange Hollow could become a very big threat."

"So they would do that. Kill someone before giving that person a chance to correct it themselves, or without giving Urahara a chance to stop anything from going further."

"The old ones might not have, but Aizen killed them long before you were aware of this world. And the new 46 is not going to let something mess with Soul Society if they can stop it before it starts. Even if that means destroying you." Rukia said the last words bitterly.

"Yeah, they might not want to put that in the brochure, 'Will Destroy Any Who Cause Trouble'. But, I bet more people would recycle."

He looked away. "Don't worry I won't give them a chance."

"I'm actually surprised that they haven't sent another since Captain Kyoraku turned that one into ashes. I hope he doesn't get into trouble."

"Why did he do that anyway?"

"Because believe it or not,_ baka, _everyone believes in you."

Ichigo didn't know what to say. So he changed the subject.

"I wonder if Ishida and the others managed to finish off the poison Hollow in the real world."

* * *

Ten o' clock the next morning came quickly.

Ichigo and Rukia were in the hidden training ground with the Viazards and Shinji was explaining what they were going to do.

"Now, since we don' know if you'll become Hollow like last time, Hachi is gonna to put the same barriers up as last time, In here and outside. Basically everything'll be like last time. Ya might not remember how it went down, but we do. So don't worry too much. Ya just concentrate on yer fight."

"Now, Hachi's gonna put ya inside a barrier he created and ya gonna have to go inside and plan with ya Hollow."

"Wait, so I just-" Ichigo's question was cut off when Hiyori knocked him out.

Ichigo lay on the ground, face down. Shinji nodded at Hachi.

Hachi made a few hand signs.

"Wall if iron sand, tower formed from hate, forge molten iron and neatly finish in silence." Hachi rattled off the incantation. "Way of Binding Number 75: Quintet of Iron Pillars!"

Hachi slammed his hands, which were meshed together by his fingers, to the ground. Five balls of gold light danced around his hands and then disappeared. The ground started to shake and a bright light appeared overhead as five pillars fell from the sky and framed Ichigo's unconscious body, one for each foot, one for each hand and one at his head. The tops of the pillars were connected by a chain.

Shinji walked over to sit by Rukia.

"Ya worried?"

"Huh?" Rukia looked up from Ichigo.

"I'll take that as a yes."

He waved his hand, meaning for her to not worry about it. Rukia looked back to Ichigo then up at Shinji.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Shinji sat next to her, removing his hat and spinning it round and round his finger.

"I didn't mention this the other day, when I told Ichigo everything his Hollow said when he was…borrowing Ichigo's body. When _he_ was talking to me, he mentioned something about me being the reason Ichigo's soul was so strong and how he'd need me during this." She waved her hand toward the yellow barrier that held Ichigo, who was still on the ground. "How do I know when I'm needed?"

"You're his queen."

Rukia blushed lightly. "That's what he said."

"Ichigo told you about how in the relationship between us and our Hollow, the one in control is considered king, right?"

Rukia nodded.

Shinji continued. "Well, Hiyori, myself and the others, once we conquered our inner Hollows and forced them to submit to us, that was it. We ain't had any more trouble with them. But, Ichigo, with him it's different."

"Because he's human?"

Shinji shook his head. "I don' know 'bout that." Putting his hat back on his head, he leaned back on his hands. "Take the rest of us. Imagine a container, just a regular cylinder. Our reiastu fills half that container and our Hollow's reiatsu fills the other half, equal right? All's peaceful. Then when we want it, we merge ours with our Hollow. Bang, power boost. Then, ya got ol' Ichigo. The guy's got out of this world reiastu by himself. And something tells me he ain't tapped into all of it yet. Then ya got his Hollow's reiatsu, another extremely large force. Put them in the same cylinder and ya got no peace. Each side is tryin' to overpower the other. May not be noticeable on the outside, but inside each side is pushing against the other."

"I don't think Ichigo will truly have a hold on his powers 'till the day his Hollow submits to him _fully. _Until then, Ichigo will need ya_. _Like what ya were told. Knowing that ya love him, keeps his soul strong and the Hollow in check."

Rukia was watching Ichigo. He was still on the ground but every now and then, his body would jerk.

"I hope your right."

Ichigo had woken up in his inner world, spitting and snarling, looking for that "damn, asshole monkey", but had soon recognized the buildings and the blue sky. Getting to his feet, Ichigo had come face to face with Zangetsu.

"Old man."

"Ichigo, call him."

"Yeah, yeah I know."

Ichigo looked around, wondering where exactly his Hollow stayed.

"Yo, where are you?"

No answer.

"Oi! Hichigo!" He knew his Hollow hated the name Ichigo had given him. But, Ichigo had gotten tired of saying "my Hollow" and every combination of that, so he'd slapped an "H" in front of his own name and dubbed his horse Hichigo. Very creative.

"Get your ass out here so we can find this thing!"

"God, you piss me off," Said the familiar, distorted voice. "I told ya I hated that name. I ain't a puppy or a new baby for ya to name."

Ichigo turned around and saw the white-robed version of himself. He looked into the black and yellow eyes, "Where's it at?"

"Right down to business, eh?"

Ichigo just stared at him. It was still weird having an actual conversation, one that didn't involve swords, with Hichigo. But Ichigo knew that he was far from having completely conquered his Mr. Hyde side.

"Ichigo."

Ichigo turned to Zangetsu.

"It moves like a phantom, never staying in one place too long. Hichigo has tried keeping tabs on it, but with no avail."

Ichigo heard a "Jeez" coming from his right. Zangetsu had taken to calling his…inner world roommate "Hichigo" too.

"Not that it would've done any damn good," Hichigo snorted. "Your body, your soul, it's ya own job to get rid of parasites."

"I will." Ichigo said.

He put his hand in front of him and watched as black reiatsu parted from Zangetsu and formed the cleaver-like blade until the old man disappeared.

No sooner had Zangetsu formed in his hand did Ichigo feel a faint reiatsu that was not his, nor did it belong to anything that was _of_ him. It was moving quickly and Ichigo wanted this thing gone, wanted it and everything associated with it- the dreams, the voice, the fear of the unknown- destroyed.

He turned to his dark image and said, "Let's go."

He'd been told that he needed to work together with his Hollow to purge his soul of this problem, but Ichigo didn't know how that was supposed to work if his Hollow couldn't get rid of it. Shaking his head, Ichigo flash stepped away from the spot he was standing in search of the phantom Hollow.

Hichigo grabbed the hilt if _his_ Zangetsu and followed suit with a smirk on his face.

* * *

**Hey, guys! For those who R&R'd the last chapters, thanks so much!**

**I wanted to keep this chapter kind of…mellow. I wanted the arrival of the Viazards to calm Ichigo, make him…well, I don't exactly know, really. I wanted him to chill out, basically. Like, "Hey, Shinji and the others are here! Great, this'll be over in no time." sort of calm. Like how there's always the calm before the storm. **

**Please R&R!**

**Oh, and I fixed Urahara's name. I have no friggin' clue how I managed to misspell that sooo many times, but I fixed it right. Probably a blonde moment, I get those more often than I'd like to admit.**

**He, he, he, a little funny thing: I have no Earthly idea how I'm going to write what happens next considering I can't stick to just ONE idea (I may say "huh, screw it! let's toss 'em all in there), but I already know how this thing ends. Great. **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey! The next chapter for Love's Trials is going to take a little while longer. Meshing all the ideas into an action packed, discovery-filled, oh-everything-makes-much-more-sense-now chapter is…well let's just say that those (meaning all of you) who are not in my head would be so confused your eyes would be rolling around their sockets. In opposite directions. Add a math and Spanish final to that and it's…very tiring. So, please enjoy this one-shot that takes place during the three weeks that our Dynamic Duo got to spend together in the real world. This was originally going to be before Ichigo started, you know, hearing things and having dreams, but I decided to not put it in.**

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Ichigo shoved his books into his school bag and slung it over his shoulder. As he left the room, he slipped on a piece of paper on the ground. Managing to catch himself before landing a perfect face plant, he bent down and picked up his attacker.

Oh great, Ichigo thought. Haunt me why don't you. Mock me all you want bastard! The paper in his hands was a flyer announcing the Halloween party at Mizuiro's house tonight. Needless to say, Ichigo didn't want to, but Rukia had given him _those _eyes and he'd caved. It was probably useless to point out to her that having her knee in a very _sensitive _place, in a _very_ threatening manner, was cheating. But he knew she'd turn the situation back on him and make it his fault. So sue him, he thought. How was he supposed to know that she'd take advantage of her position?

He'd been studying when she had come into his room and spun his chair around. Placing her hands on his shoulders and placing her right knee between his knees, perfectly innocent, she had said she had something important to talk to him about. His complete attention on her and wondering what was up, she leaned towards him and told him that she wanted to go to Mizuiro's party with him. Ichigo had automatically said no because he wasn't the party type. Then while Rukia gave him those dreaded puppy dog eyes, she had slid her knee up, in that threatening manner, and asked again. Swallowing, more like gulping, Ichigo had quickly changed his mind. Letting out a forced laugh, he's agreed to take her. Then, as if nothing had happened (like she hadn't threatened harm to his boys), Rukia had given him a quick kiss with a sickly sweet thank you and practically skipped out of the room.

Ichigo sighed. The party was tonight and Rukia hadn't even told him what he was going as, because, in total Mizuiro fashion he was throwing a costume party. A costume party, great . Ichigo could barely contain his excitement. When he'd asked Rukia if he could just go in his shinigami garb, she'd whacked him in the head saying that no one would be able to see him. Retorting that that was why he wanted to had earned him another whack.

With his school bag dangling off his shoulder, his fingers wrapped loosely around the handles, Ichigo stared at the sky as he walked home. He was alone today as Rukia, along with Inoue and Tatsuki, had taken off the moment the bell had rung to do God knows what. Probably something to do with their costumes; Ichigo winced as he horrible image of a horrid clown costume appeared in his head. Rukia wouldn't tell him what he was going as and he couldn't figure out where she'd stashed the bags that held the costumes. He hoped it wasn't a clown. Clowns scared the hell out of him. He'd rather face an army of Espada again than see a clown. Creepy, useless things, Ichigo thought. What the hell was their purpose anyway?

Lost in his ponderings about what uses clowns had (besides nightmare material) Ichigo ran into Ishida. Actually, it was more like "crashed", but it snapped Ichigo out his daze. He looked down at the ground where the object that had blocked his path sat putting his glasses back on.

"Ishida?"

"Obviously!" Ishida huffed. He stood up and started brushing off his clothes.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Ishida said quickly. He'd actually been imagining worse case scenarios for his costume for the party tonight. Ishida barely controlled a wince as he pictured himself in a giant carrot costume. Maybe he shouldn't have let Inoue pick his costume. Yeah, right. He couldn't say no to her when she pleaded with him.

Ichigo looked at him skeptically. He in Ishida fell into step together.

"You going to the party?"

"Uh, yeah. Though as what I have no clue. Inoue insisted on picking my costume."

"Oh, so we're on the same boat."

Ishida looked at his friend. Ichigo didn't look to excited to see what his girlfriend would put him in. He decided to mess with him.

"You'll probably end up in a Chappy suit."

Ichigo went pale. Oh dear God! He hadn't even thought about that! Rukia wouldn't do that to him, would she?

"S-she wouldn't do that! She knows I can't stand that thing!" Ichigo said, trying more to reassure himself than set Ishida straight.

"Oh yes, I can really see the bunny costume now. She'll probably deck it out in the hippie clothes she's so fond of putting Abarai in when he comes here."

Oh man, oh man, oh man, Ichigo had to get home now. He had to see this costume now. No way in hell was he going out in _public_, no not even in the privacy of his own home, as a giant hippie rabbit!

"Gotta go!" Ichigo took off running leaving Ishida coughing in his dust.

When he slammed through his family's clinic's door, he ran up the stairs and hollered for his violet-eyeg girlfriend.

"Rukia!"

No answer.

"Dammit Rukia where are you? I wanna see this costume! If you put me in some God forsaken rabbit suit, I swear I'll-"

His rant was cut off when he saw the wide-eyed expression of Yuzu and bored one of Karin.

"Problem, Ichi-nii?" Karin was leaning against the wall, smirking.

"Yeah, I've got a problem. Where'd Rukia stash our costumes?"

Knowing full well where they were, the twins looked at each other then shrugged.

"We don't know onii-chan," Yuzu said.

Before Ichigo could launch into an attack of tickles to get the truth, his shinigami badge beeped.

"Oh look Ichi-nii, duty calls." Karin grabbed her twin's hand and pulled her downstairs.

Mumbling incoherently under his breath Ichigo went into his room and grabbed the green pill from his desk. Thanking God that he'd taken the pill from the plush toy last night so he didn't have to chase around the loud, perverted lion, Ichigo popped it in his mouth and jumped out his window.

He headed in the general direction of the Hollow's reiatsu and flash stepped forward. When he got to the creature, he noticed the slight difference in the reiatsu and knew that this was one of the poison Hollow. Coming up from behind, Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu's hilt-the wrappings automatically unwinding- and swung straight down. His blade went clean through the Hollow. Ichigo watched it disappear as he placed Zangetsu back across his back.

That was fast, he thought.

Ichigo stood there for a couple minutes longer, hoping for the entire army of Hollow that would save him from having to go to the party and actually have to socialize with the people he got enough of at school. When none came he turned and headed home.

As soon as he had got back into his body and popped the pill back into the plush lion on his desk, Rukia swung open the door and went to sit on his bed. She was holding a shopping bag from some shop in her hands.

She held it up, the bag swinging back and forth from her fingers. "Here's your costume, Ichigo."

Scowling he took the bag from her and braved a peek inside.

No clowns of rabbits insight.

Halleluiah.

"This is it?" Ichigo asked trying not to show his relief.

Rukia saw it any way. "Yep, that's it. It was either that or Frankenstein. And I figured a sword would fit you better than green make-up."

"Good call." Ichigo walked over to her. Leaning down, he kissed her. "So, what are you going as?"

Rukia grinned and shook her head. "You're not allowed to see before tonight." Before Ichigo could protest, she said, "Those are Inoue's orders. I'm also getting ready over there with her so that's where you'll pick me up."

Well, he didn't want to argue with Inoue. She might "Reject" him or worse, make him eat her cooking. Setting down his costume he sat down next to Rukia and laid back, Rukia doing the same. They both rolled on their side so that they were facing each other.

"I got another poison Hollow today."

Rukia nodded."Your sisters told me you went after a Hollow and I was hoping it would be a poison one so we can rid the real world of them."

"Well, it won't be long before they're all gone." Ichigo was winding a strand of her hair around his fingers. There was something he wanted to know.

"What's Inoue got Ishida going as?"

"I'm not telling. I'm pretty sure when you see it you won't be surprised."

"I ran into him- literally- on the sidewalk today and I swear he paled when he mentioned that Inoue was picking his costume."

Rukia scoffed. "You guys are just letting her horrible taste in food rule her every decision. Just because she does have horrible taste in food does not mean that her fashion sense does too."

"Of course," Ichigo was nodding his head solemnly.

Rukia looked at the clock. "Five o' clock. I'm going to go to Inoue's and start getting ready."

She leaned forward to give Ichigo a kiss, then got off the bed heading toward the door.

"Hey Rukia," Ichigo called to her.

She stopped with her hand on the door knob.

"Thanks for not putting me in a rabbit suit."

Rukia smiled, "Of course. Besides, you can't appreciate art in the first place."

She laughed and quickly exited the room, the pillow Ichigo had thrown landed against the door with a soft thud.

Lolly-gagging around his house, putting off when he'd have to go upstairs and put on his costume- it was a pretty good costume but that didn't mean it made Ichigo want to wear it. Finally, he grabbed a quick shower and went to his room to dress.

Pulling on the brown pants, Ichigo was relieved they weren't tight, but fit like a pair of jeans. Next came the loose white shirt. The V-neck looked like the fabric had been ripped from the collar, curling around the edge, and the long sleeve shirt buttoned at his wrist causing the fabric to bunch. Ichigo shrugged into the blue vest that hung past his hips and tied the ragged looking sash around his waist. Ichigo then fastened the thickest brown belt over the sash, both over the vest. Picking up the last belt, this one thinner and a lighter brown than the first, he fastened it around his hips- also over the blue vest.

Ichigo sat on his bed and pulled on the black boots that had impeccable I've-sailed-the-seas-and-stole-treasures scuffs on them. Standing up he grabbed the fake sword and slipped it behind the leather of the belt around his waist.

He was almost done. Reaching into the bag he grabbed the red bandanna and after rolling it, he tied it around his forehead. After that came the finishing touch: the triangle-like hat. Placing it on his head, Ichigo opened his door and prepared himself for his family's reaction to pirate Ichigo.

"Ichiiigooo! You are such an adorable pirate! You're mother would so proud of our delinquent –" Kurosaki Isshin was promptly cut off by a fist in his face. Walking on into the kitchen where his sisters were Ichigo ignored his dad.

Karin looked up from her homework when he came in. "Nice sword, Ichi-nii."

His hand reached up to grab Zangetsu, but stopped mid-air when he realized she was talking about his fake one; The one at his hip. Isshin, who had seen his son's automatic grab towards the spot where his zanpaktou usually rested, walked into the kitchen grinning.

"You be able to cut Hollows with that thing tonight." When Ichigo looked at his dad with a teenage "duh" look on his face he went silly. "Make sure you take good care of Rukia-chan and remember I want six grand –"

Ichigo put his foot in his father's face. "Don't even think about finishing that sentence."

"Ichi-nii, you better go get Rukia."

"I'm going, I'm going."

Ichigo tried to ignore the people who looked at him funny as he walked to Inoue's house. Because Halloween was on a Sunday this year Mizuiro had his party today, two days before. As he rounded the corner, he came to a dead stop as his stared at the figure coming from the opposite direction, clearly also heading to Inoue's.

Rukia had been right, it was obvious. The Quincy archer was dressed as Robin Hood. Green from head to toe. As he came close, Ichigo snorted.

"Ishida! Are those tights?!"

His Quincy friend turned red and sputtered, "No! There just really tight pants!"

His grin wide Ichigo said, "Uh-huh, sure."

Not succeeding to cover his chuckling, Ichigo and the red-face archer rang the doorbell. They hears Inoue yelling "I'll get it Kuchiki-san! You finish up!"

The door opened and the guys saw Inoue had dressed according to her name. The deep blue ball gown was fitted in all the right places and flowed in all the right places. Sitting on her head was a silver and crystal tiara.

"Ishida! Kurosaki-kun! Come in!" She stepped back and swung the door wider.

Ichigo had to slap Ishida on the back of his head to stop his staring, a fact that made Inoue blush happily. Finally inside, Inoue told them she'd be right back with Rukia. She was true to her word.

"Here she is!" Inoue sang as she came back into the room. When Rukia followed it was Ichigo's turn to stare. His roamed up her costumed body, starting with the feet.

Black stiletto shoes covered her feet. From there to about mid-thigh, purple fish nets sheathed her legs. The short, black skirt had a cut, jagged hem and the left side was bunched to her hip, held by a black ribbon. The top was a corset. Black, with purple ribbon criss-crossing down the front to hold it close, it made her already small waist even smaller and gave just a _hint_ of cleavage. Her shoulders were bare and under clichéd black, pointy hat her raven hair was curled loosely around her face. Her make-up wasn't extreme but it made her eyes bigger and put a pretty blush to her cheekbones.

Reaching up to straighten the hat, Rukia smiled at Ichigo. She noted with great pleasure that his eyes were almost popped out of his head. She walked toward him.

"You like your costume?"

Ichigo nodded dumbly. Now it was Ishida's turn to slap Ichigo on the back of the head. Snapping out of his stupor, Ichigo jumped and walked over to his girlfriend.

"You look beautiful."

"You clean up good yourself."

"I do, don't I?" Ichigo agreed playfully. He grabbed her hand. "Come on, if we don't get there soon I'll have to kill Keigo so he'll stop asking us what took us so long."

They left Inoue's and headed towards Mizuiro's house, Ichigo and Rukia walking in front, Robin Hood and Cinderella behind them.

As they got closer, they could hear the music. Rukia's eyes lit up. This was her first party in the human world. Ichigo looked at her, she looked so happy Ichigo realized that even if he had to wear a Chappy suit, he would have just to see that look on her face. This party won't be so bad after all, Ichigo thought.

"Fair warning: I'm not that great a dancer." He told Rukia.

She smiled up at him. "I'm probably not either."

Throwing his arm around her shoulders Ichigo said, "We can look like idiots together."

Rukia threw back her head and laughed. "Alright," she said wrapping her arm around his waist as they walked up the stairs to Mizuiro's front door.

The pirate did have fun that night, but mostly he had fun watching the witch as she experienced something new. Not to mention the slow songs Tatsuki kept throwing out.


End file.
